Worst Woo Ever!

Rating: 1/10 (11 August 2002)

Windtalkers is a disgrace to American Film. An entirely unconvincing Nicolas Cage headlined this gore orgy. Cage's performance as Joe Enders was as inspired as a can of Campbells soup, not the chunky kind either. The supporting cast followed suit.
This movie was over before it started, in my mind. Writers Rice and Batteer chose to focus not on the Navajo code-talkers, but their guards. Though the guards were interesting, they don't belong in the spotlight. This movie is proof that Hollywood is no longer interested stories, only dollars. Windtalkers should have been about Adam Beach and Roger Willie as Yahzee and Whitehorse, not Cage and his sidearm.
Anyone who says this movie promoted cross-cultural understanding and discouraged bigotry is completely wrong. What Windtalkers says, and what it does are two entirely different things. The production team obviously didn't believe in its brief `look at us! We're from different cultures but we're best buddies' segments. Inherent racism dominates Windtalkers. Of all the movies out there, this one cried the loudest for a Native American star. In the end this movie proves that Hollywood is unwilling to let Native Americans tell their own stories.
Windtalkers was as predictable as a metronome, and every bit as engaging. When the viewer is introduced to a person equipped with a flamethrower it is obvious the tank of gas will explode into flames. I liked it the first time I saw it, when it was called Saving Private Ryan.
And last, but certainly least, were the dreadfully repetitive battle sequences. Following the final battle sequence, Chick, played by Noah Emmerich, approaches Enders and Yahzee proclaiming `I think that's the last of em' after killing upwards of two million Japanese soldiers in downwards of two hours. I was expecting him to follow up with something like `I guess we'll have to send back to Japan for some more.' This movie trivializes death by killing so many people in a method completely devoid of any emotion. By the end of the movie I was just hoping Enders would die, or morph into Thomas Builds-the-Fire from Smoke Signals (The movie Adam Beach should be remembered for). At the end of the movie I didn't know whether I wanted to laugh at Cage's laughable performance, or cry because Windtalkers wasted an opportunity to tell the rare story worth telling.