Tara and Andrew This movie theoretically has a lot going for it-- John Woo can direct the hell out of action sequences, Nicholas Cage is a good/entertaining actor, and the premise of the movie holds potential. That's why it's ultimately all that much more disappointing when Windtalkers turns out the way that it does. The action is flat, the story is riddled with tired war movie clichés, and Nicholas Cage is utterly un-engaging for the first two thirds of the movie, and only becomes slightly more likable in the last third. On top of that, the movie is looooonng. It isn't like it's going to give you dysentery if you *have* to watch it like we did, but saying that is basically the textbook definition of damning with faint praise. Don't watch."Why would anyone *have* to watch Windtalkers", you may be asking yourself. That's a good question, and the answer is (in our case, at least) because it was the movie we selected totally at random in the fourth episode of our podcast, Tara and Andrew Versus The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide. You can hear our more detailed thoughts on Windtalkers by finding us on Apple Podcasts or the podcasting app of your preference, or by going directly to the episode page right here: https://www.taraandandrewversus.com/blog/2017/8/20/episode-4- windtalkers. Check it out, if you would be so kind! We try to keep things fairly concise, so even if you're sorry you listened, you won't be VERY sorry.

Wuchak "Windtalkers" (2002) stars Nicolas Cage as a follow-the-orders-at-all-costs soldier who's assigned to protect a code talker (Adam Beach), a Navajo who speaks his native language on radio transmissions to conceal the data from the Japanese. Christian Slater plays a similar soldier assigned to another Navajo (Roger Willie). The movie details the Battle of Saipan and also stars Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Van Holt, Peter Stormare and Frances O'Connor.I was surprised by how good "Windtalkers" is. I say 'surprised' because it lacks the mass hoopla surrounding other WWII films, like 1998's overrated "Saving Private Ryan" (don't get me wrong, the first act of "Ryan" is great, but the rest of the movie leaves a lot to be desired. Remember the lame dog tag sequence?). The film was made by John Woo who knows how to make an exciting and colorful action flick, as witnessed by 1996' "Broken Arrow." "Windtalkers" cost a whopping $115 million to make and you definitely see it on the screen; unfortunately, it 'only' made back $75 million worldwide.Both 1998's "The Thin Red Line" and "Windtalkers" involve the Pacific Theater of WWII and the taking of Japanese-held islands. While I consider "The Thin Red Line" a nigh-masterpiece, it's too meditative and spiritual if you're in the mood for a straight war flick. When that's the case, "Windtalkers" satisfies just fine. Remember the incredible air raid sequence in 1979's "Apocalypse Now"? That's the impression I got with the opening scenes of the Battle of Saipan in "Windtalkers." Some complain that not enough emphasis is put on the code talkers, but the two Navajos are major characters throughout the story, particularly the one played by Beach. As for their actual code-talking, what else needs to be shown? The complaint holds no water.Others complain about the utter annihilation of throngs of Japanese soldiers, but the statistics support this: There were 71,000 allied forces and 31,000 Japanese soldiers in the battle. 'Only' 3,426 allied forces died, while another 10,000 were wounded, but 24,000 Japs were killed and another 5000 committed suicide, while 921 were taken captive. On top of this 22,000 civilians died, mostly by suicide, in obedience to the imperial order of Emperor Hirohito encouraging the civilians of Saipan to commit suicide promising them an equal status in the afterlife with that of soldiers dying in battle.Ultimately, "Windtalkers" lacks that special flair or perspective that denotes truly exception war movies, like "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," "Where Eagles Dare" and "The Blue Max," but "Windtalkers" isn't far behind. The main difference is that it's more of a conventional war flick but, of course, that's all it needs to be.The film runs 134 minutes and was shot in Hawaii and the greater Los Angeles area.GRADE: B+

powermandan To me, any war or sci-fi movie is a guaranteed winner. The construction of sets and direction or battles sequences and special effects all have to be at very high degrees in order to look even remotely real. In order for a war or sci-fi movie to be bad, the sets, special effects, and battles scenes all have to be poorly done. I have encountered some sci-fis that had poor CGI, but I have not yet seen a badly made war movie. Even heavily clichéd war movies have realistic violence and spectacular action sequences. I noticed Windtalkers got bad reviews, but everybody must admit it was good for what it had.Windtalkers is about a group of soldiers (including Nicolas Cage, Christian Slater, Mark Ruffalo, and Noah Emmerich) during World War II who must protect two Navajo soldiers from the Japanese, as they are the only ones that understand the codes in Navajo language. I am not a history guru nor an expert on any wars, so I very much enjoyed this. John Woo is an action master that did great action scenes and the acting is great by almost all. There was some bad acting, but most were good. Nicolas Cage was good, as this was before his string of bad movies like Ghost Rider and Bangkok Dangerous. He is our main character who is similar to Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now and Charlie Sheen in Platoon--all men are haunted by the horrors of war. The story is a little slow, but is sugarcoated with great action. Also, there are nice shots such as the opening scene as the camera hovers around mountains in the desert. The music, provided by legendary James Horner makes every little thing that much greater. What I saw critics and general reviews poke at the most was the fact that the Navajo soldiers were minor characters and that there was no "windtalking" or codecracking. That would be my biggest complaint. It is clear that this draws influence from previous war classics, mainly Platoon and Saving Private Ryan, and this may be inferior to those, but it is still and great flick.

dglink During World War II, Navajos were recruited by the U.S. military to send and transmit messages in a code based on their complex language; the Japanese were never able to crack the code, and the tale of these Navajos and their contribution to winning the war in the Pacific would have made an engrossing film. John Woo's "Windtalkers" starts promisingly with a young Navajo, Ben Yahzee, played by Adam Beach, bidding his family goodbye and boarding a bus to join the army. While the early days of Yahzee's indoctrination and training in the Navajo-based code are touched upon, the film soon veers away and follows Sergeant Joe Enders, played by Nicolas Cage, whose sometimes contrived story is more conventional and less interesting than that of the Navajo recruits. Cage is assigned to protect Beach and his knowledge of the code from capture by the Japanese; Beach is unaware that Cage has been instructed to kill him rather than let him fall into Japanese hands."Windtalkers" does detail the prejudice and persecution endured by the Navajos from both other enlisted men and their superiors, although to say the Navajos resemble the Japanese is an implausible stretch. Beach and Roger Willie as Charlie Whitehorse are the only two Navajo characters with any screen time. While Beach is a Canadian Saulteaux and studied Navajo for the film, Willie is a Navajo of the Wateredge Clan. Although Cage gives a solid performance as Enders and is ably supported by Christian Slater, Mark Ruffalo, Noah Emmerich, and Peter Stornare, the excellently conceived and filmed battle scenes upstage the actors. Often gruesomely graphic, John Woo stages sweeping battlefield scenes that are exhilarating and spectacular. Planes swoop overhead, bombs detonate and send streamers of shrapnel into the air, flame throwers ignite tanks and soldiers alike, and the camera moves in to capture a human torch or a savage bayoneting in closeup. The action and lush green Hawaiian shooting locations are beautifully captured by Jeffrey L. Kimball's excellent cinematography, and a fine James Horner score further enhances the film.A solid cast, good production values, stunningly realistic battle scenes, "Windtalkers" has a lot going for it, but ultimately the film missed an opportunity to recount a fascinating footnote to World War II history. The movie begins and ends amidst the majestic splendor of Monument Valley and does pay passing homage to the contribution of the Navajos to the war effort and final victory. However, the focus has been misplaced on a white solder rather than on the Navajos, which lessens the film's import. Instead of a classic retelling of a near-forgotten story, "Windtalkers" is a well acted, but routine war movie with some spectacular battle scenes that come perilously close to overwhelming the personal stories.