Historically significant; cinematically not

Rating: Null/10 (2 September 2002)

Let me preface these remarks by noting that I am not a John Woo fan.
Prior to this film, I had not seen a Woo film that actually hit me on an
emotional level. This one does, largely because of its subject matter, but
also because of a few soap opera/tear-jerker setups along with a couple of
genuinely poignant moments. Ultimately though, in the end, I was
unmoved by the relationship between the guardians and the windtalkers,
and I felt that this central relationship was what the film tried the hardest to explore and sell to the viewer. At the end of the film, as at the beginning, I would have had no trouble "taking the shot" that Cage's character was
duty-bound to take, and that was deeply troubling to me. Either I am a
cold-hearted snake, or I just didn't buy the characters. I suspect the latter. In my view, this is an historically interesting film, but not an especially
engaging work. A for effort; C for result.