Boring and clichéd

Rating: 5/10 (5 July 2002)

In WWII Navajo men were used as code talkers in the war--they translated messages while in combat into their own language, and transmitted it that way. This was done so the Japanese were unable to understand the messages. It's a very interesting little known fact about the war. It's a good thing they made a movie about it--it's too bad the movie is so lousy.
SPOILERS
Every single clichéd line and character found in WWII movies are all here. There's the sergeant who is suffering from a former war trauma; the eager young kid (who you know is gonna get it); the racist (who sees the error of his ways); the nice guy who is horrified by what he sees; the saint-like Navajos etc etc. The dialogue is astonishingly bad. I've heard these same lines from other war flicks--some of them are lifted verbatim (it seems)! Every single line and conflict is predictable. I was able to tell in the first 20 minutes who was going to die--that's how predictable this is!
I almost left but the movie DOES have it's good points. For one thing, war is not glorified. The battle sequences are bloody, loud, very graphic and upsetting...as they should be. However, director John Woo has always been good at shooting violence. Also there's no stupid obligatory romance--heck, there's virtually no females here! There's some good acting also--Adam Beach as one of the Navajos is fantastic--handsome, intelligent if a little too saintlike. Mark Ruffalo is also affecting and Christian Slater (not playing a jerk for once) is excellent. Unfortunately, Nicholas Cage gives another lousy performance as the main character. Can we take back the Oscar he got for "Leaving Las Vegas"?
So, aside from some good acting and extreme violence (be warned...it's VERY explicit...some people walked out because of it), I can't recommend this. Too bad...the subject matter is so interesting.