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Dan Owen reviews
MGM
- Cert: R
- Running time: 134 minutes
- Year: 2002
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Chapters: 32
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 (Eng, Spa)
- Languages: English, French, Spanish
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
- Widescreen: 2.40:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 18
- Price: $14.99
- Extras:Theatrical/Teaser Trailer & DVD Production Credits
Director:
- John Woo
(M:I-2)
Screenplay:
- John Rice & John Batteer
Cast:
- Sgt Enders: Nicolas Cage
Prvt Yahzee: Adam Beach
Sgt Hjelmstad: Peter Stormare
Nurse Swelton: Francis O’Connor
Sgt Henderson: Christian Slater
Major Mellitz: Jason Isaacs
Cpl Rogers: Noah Emmerich
Pappas: Mark Ruffalo
Harrigan: Brian Van Holt
Nellie: Martin Henderson
Prvt Whitehorse: Roger Willie
John Woo is having a career rollercoaster-ride in Hollywood.The legendary Hong Kong director responsible for such visceral thrills suchas Hard Boiled” came to the USA with the weak Hard Target,then proceeded onto the mildly betterBroken Arrow,before hitting the big-time with the high-octane Face/Off, then fellback into mediocrity Tom Cruise sequelMission: Impossible 2.
Now comes Windtalkers, which should have been a return to form,but Woo’s style is left looking clichéd and old-fashioned in a post-Matrixworld where the realities of war have also been brutally rammed home bySaving Private RyanandBlack Hawk Down.
Windtalkers reveals the admittedly interesting fact that the NavajoIndian language was used during World War II by the United States as acode against Japanese enemy forces.
Nicola Cage (a Woo favourite after “Face/Off”) plays Sgt Enders, awar-weary marine injured in a previous battle, who bluffs his way backinto service. Enders is charged with protecting young Navajo code-talkerYahzee – with orders to kill Yahzee in the event he falls into enemyhands… to protect the code.
So, a palm-rubbingly enticing set-up is born. Sadly, the premise behindWindtalkers is the only original thing it brings to the “war movie”genre. Director Woo has a style that perfectly suits contemporaryviolence, but his technique looks unsuited to a period piece set in the40s. Thankfully Woo reigns in his more clichéd hallmarks (althoughslow-motion and birds do make an appearance!), but it isn’t enough tomake an audience take Windtalkers seriously.
James Horner‘s bombastic music score plays annoyingly over most of theaction scenes, totally destroying any whiff of reality audiences will bestruggling to find. Extras seem to run into bullets on purpose, actorsseem able to predict where Japanese soldiers will spring from as theywheel their, it’s all very… staged. Stagnant. There’s no vitality andraw energy on display – this is a war film that simply goes through themotions.
The screenplay by John Rice and John Batteer is riddled with clichés andsteals from far greater war movies. The central focus of the movie is onthe characters of Enders and Yahzee, yet the blooming of theirfriendship is clumsy and unbelievable throughout. By the end of themovie, when the audience should really care for these men… we don’t.They’re just two-dimensional grunts stuck in a formulaic movie with abelow-par script to read from.
Nicolas Cage puts on his best angst-filled expression and isoccasionally quite good, but the screenplay fails to give him anythingmeaty to chew on. For the most part he drifts through the movie with anannoyed expression, or barks orders to subordinates through therat-a-tat of gunfire.
Adam Beach (Private Yahzee) is perhaps the real star, bringing anearnest humanity and believability to the young Navajo soldier. UnlikeCage, Beach manages to find some subtleties in the script to latch onto,but one good performance is worth nothing in a movie with a focus on afriendship between two men.
Christian Slater (“Broken Arrow”) and the rest of the supporting castmake little impact on proceedings. Noah Emmerich plays a stereotypedracist bigot who considers Navajo’s just as bad as ‘The Japs’, in a rolethat lacks originality but at least has some dramatic punch tooccasionally.
The special-effects are generally quite good, but Woo’s disregard forCGI reduces the impact some scenes could have had. Woo is forced toutilize CGI planes in a few short sequences, but uses footage of real USwarships in the movie – and the results are embarrassingly obvious cutsbetween pristine celluloid and grainy archive tape.
Overall, I enjoyed “Windtalkers” on a very basic level. There are a fewnice sequences, the premise is intriguing and there’s a nice performancefrom Adam Beach. But, this is a by-the-numbers production that mainlyfails because of a weak plot, a tired performance from Cage and a wrongchoice of director.
Windtalkers Region 1 comes in an Amoray case with some excellentartwork (hell, the front cover could have become iconic if the film wasany good!).
The animated menus are quite nicely designed – very fast loading, simpleand effective shots from the movie in a narrow bar flanked by thesub-menu buttons. Very good.
The movie’s 2.40:1 widescreen picture is anamorphic with no visiblegrain or damage to the print. Colours are lively and dark sequences arebewitchingly deep, but there are occasional instances of smearing indaylight scenes. But overall a great transfer.
The movie also comes in a Full-Screen version (on the reverse of theDVD-18 disk), which is just as vibrant – but ridiculously cropped. Comeon, if you have DVD people should have really invested in a widescreenTV by now, or just “suffer” the ‘black bars’ on your 4:3 TV screen…
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is quite involving in chunks, but the overalleffect is lacking. Unlike other war films you never feel like you’re inthe thick of the action throughout the movie, just for small momentswhen John Woo starts a particular action sequence. Standout momentsgenerally involve the CGI airplane flyovers, bomb explosions and theobligatory gunfire. Dialogue is audible and strong throughout the movie.
Aaaaah! Like the Region 1 release of “Black Hawk Down”, the movie comeswith practically no extra features. We just have the Teaser Trailer andTheatrical Trailer (very good), with some additional trailers topublicize the release of “Die Another Day” and the James Bond DVDcollection. Oh, and a DVD Production Credits list. Wow…
A total abomination. No doubt a ‘Special Edition’ is being worked onalready for a late-2002/early-2003 release, so if you can wait – I’dadvise it (DVDfeverfever.co.uk Ed: “…or, perhaps likeBlack Hawk Down,the Region 2 DVD will have all the necessaries that the Region 1 disc missedout on?”)
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALLE-mail Dan Owen
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.