Sergent Enders and the Silver Star.

Rating: 2/10 (16 October 2004)

Windtalkers (2002) was an expensive egg that John Woo laid at the box office. When it finally hatched, it was rotten. A lot of money was poured into this lame movie. Like I have said in the past, John Woo is a product of his environment. When he was in Hong Kong, he was put on a financial leash. Since he didn't have an obscene budget and a strict ratings system, he had to work with what he had. Now that he's in the U.S. and had a couple of box office success, he was given carte blanche. Now that he produced a couple of money pits, Hollywood is having second thoughts.
This poor excuse of an "epic" is a very bad film. Despite the aforementioned title, this movie has very little to do with the wind talkers. The film pays the subject lip service whilst it mainly focuses on Sgt. Enders (Nicholas Cage). Full of clichés and bad acting, the movie never gets past go. People expecting a flick like Cross of Iron need to look elsewhere. This film tries to be like it but fails miserably.
Cross of Iron is a masterpiece about the horrors of war. This film is just another bad Hollywood movie trying to be something that it's not. If you're going to pour almost two hundred million dollars into a film you better deliver an awesome picture. But since this is a mainstream film, you'll know what the end results are. I have to give this movie a very poor rating. I advise you to watch Cross of Iron. That film is a ballet of bullets, slow motion editing and blood soaked montages. Comparing the two is like eating a nice tender steak or a frozen Salisbury steak t.v. dinner.
Not recommended.