Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater star in the new film from action supremo John Woo as two U.S. Marines in WWII assigned to protect Navajo Marines who know a secret radio code.
In the immortal words of Chris Morris: "YES...its war!" Hong Kong legend John Woo lays down his trademark two handguns, and picks up two Howitzers for this visually impressive, distinctly old school, WWII movie. Its 1942, and a mere century after European colonialists deliberately doled out blankets laced with smallpox to their kids, the Native Americans have found it in their hearts to forgive the white man and join up for battle against imperial Japan. The allies use Navajo language as code in the Pacific theatre (which proved to be an excellent strategy as no one ever cracked it), U.S. marine Joe Enders (Nic Cage) is paired up with Native American wind-talker Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) his orders are to protect the code at all costs (which includes killing his buddy if need be) as everyone gears up for the big push on Saipan.
'Windtalkers', despite some fine cinematography and spectacular action sequences, operates with sledgehammer subtlety, and I was often having flashbacks to better war films like 'Platoon' or 'Born On The Forth Of July', nonetheless, Woo displays the gratuitous folly of war with an unflinching panache of post 'Saving Private Ryan'-esque realism. And much like David Cronenberg did in 'A History Of Violence', makes us a party to the mind-numbing, sensationalistic brutality of it all, and its only once the credits have rolled, that we begin to question our motives for going along with such madness.
This director"s cut edition is even more violent, features some impressive behind the scenes documentaries (the boot camp training and recreating war extras are particularly good) audio commentaries from John Woo, Nicholas Cage and Christian Slater (whose rapidly becoming one of my favourite commentators after this, and his track on 'True Romance') Navajo consultants and a gimmicky, though fun, multi-angle option during the battle sequences (similar to the multi-angle duel on "The Count Of Monte Cristo" DVD). 'Windtalkers' is quite a powerful film that, despite the obligatory bouts of iron-jawed propaganda, is a well-directed re-enactment of one of WWII"s bloodiest campaigns.
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Nicolas Cage takes the starring role in this John Woo-directed war movie about US soldiers fighting in the Pacific during World War Two. Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) is a Navajo Indian who signs up for the US marines to work as a radio operator in a new military program which uses the Navajo language as the basis for coded transmissions. Sent into action, Yahzee is given battle-weary sergeant Joe Enders (Cage) as a bodyguard, but remains unaware that Enders has been ordered to kill him should he fall into enemy hands. When the two men find themselves caught up in the intense close-quarters combat of the battle of Saipan, they must struggle not only against the enemy, but also to earn each other's trust and respect.
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