So-so war flick

Rating: 3/10 (23 December 2002)

The only thing that this war flick has to offer is that it makes viewers aware of the Navajo Codetalkers. Other wise, it has no redeeming value. It fails completely as a story of the battle of Saipan and the use of the Codetalkers in that battle. It is amazing how the producers went to great lengths to use authentic equipment and uniforms but that is about all that was authentic about this movie. Like in one scene in Hawaii where the Marines were having a party and were singing the Marine's Hymn. Every one was dressed in authentic Khaki but one individual was wearing a barracks hat rather than a garrison cap as all the others wore. When Marines left the states, they did not take barracks hats with them.
Any resemblance to the actual battle for Saipan and the movie is purely coincidental. One example was the foliage in the movie. Saipan is a tropical island yet in several scenes it looked like it was shot in an autumn with trees that are not on Saipan and with yellow leaves.
The Japanese never charged in daylight. All their charges were at night and they did not charge the first days of the battle. Unlike in the movie Japanese defensive positions were well dug in, mostly heavily reinforced bunkers and caves, so that they would not be vulnerable to air strikes. In the movie Japanese positions were wide trenches and some lightly covered gun positions, something one would never see in war.
And Nicholas Cage was supposed to protect his Navajo Codetalker. Instead he constantly exposed him to imminent danger. Codetalkers were rarely exposed to close in fighting. They were communicators usually working in headquarters. Early on Nicholas Cage, a sergeant, uses his Codetalker to direct Naval gunfire from the battleship U.S.S. California (which actually was there) onto enemy positions. Sergeants do not call in naval gunfire. That is done by specially trained officers. The same was true of directing artillery.
A battalion commander walks up to Cage and gives him a medal. Never happened that way. Medals were never awarded during a battle. They were always awarded after the battle was over in ceremonies where all men in the unit were present so all could see their comrades rewarded.
The civilians on Saipan were Japanese and they were so frightened of the Americans most committed suicide. It is highly unlikely that Marines ever had an opportunity to have contact with Japanese civilians because they all would have fled their villages.
In one scene Cage and his unit advance in a convoy on a recon mission. Never happened. Saipan had to be taken inch by inch and any vehicle that even got near the front lines (except for a tank) would have been destroyed by enemy fire.
I could go on and on about the inaccuracies in the movie. It wasn't worth the price of admission. Being a former Marine I thought it would be interesting but it was just another John Wayne war flick.