Boo-hoo, not Woo-hoo

Rating: 3/10 (22 December 2002)

When I sat down to watch this film, all I knew about it was that it was about the part the native-Americans had played during WW2.
You can imagine my dismay then, when the credits rolled and "A John Woo film" scrolled by. I had been hoping to sit down to an intelligent, well thought-out war film about the part a forgotten few had played in it.
Instead I got the Woo trademarks - violence, more violence, pointless doves, more violence, people pointing empty guns at each other and people leaping about with two pistols firing. Oh, and even more violence.
The two Navajo in the story were relegated to minor characters who didn't have one good line to say between them.
There was an almost laughable sideline featuring a racist soldier (Noah Emmerich) who comes to appreciate the Navajo. It was so cheesily done that it was painful to watch.
The cast were all a bit weary looking. As if they'd had enough of being in the movie. When Christian Slater turned up I actually felt sorry for him. But Nicolas Cage went through the film as if on sedatives for the most part.
Overall, this film reminded me of those old war films you were forced to watch as a kid because your parents loved them. Lots of action but not a lot of plot. And it just went on and on and on. No cheers when they took the final Japanese position, only a relief that it was all nearly over.
Woo films are getting progressively worse in my opinion. Broken Arrow was an OK film, MI2 was tolerable (but getting silly) and this is just his worst to date.