Big Glossy Waste

Rating: 2/10 (21 October 2002)

Windtalkers thrusts the viewer into the thick of battle from the very beginning. Bullets, bombs, and bodies fly in all directions. Japanese soldiers pop out of the bushes from every angle like in a video game. Men scream like Rambo, they die, they kill, and I am laughing. Why am I laughing? Allow me to explain. This entire battle is choreographed to such precise movements that it loses its fluidity and becomes robotic. It feels like we are watching toy soldiers battling it out. The battle is understandably confined to a small space, but with the brightness of the day, and the glossiness of the picture it feels like you are on the set of a big budget Hollywood film. Fake! Fake! Fake! The only thing that could have saved this scene is a director yelling "cut" at the end, but that never happened. If I saw this in a theater I would have walked out right away and demanded a refund.
Windtalkers is simply about two sergeants whose duty is to protect two Native Americans who use their language as a code for radio communications. Nice ideal for a film, but not even Nicholas Cage's acting and John Woo's direction could pull it out of the gutter. The characters seem like they have been put through some sort of Hollywood checklist. Do we have the tortured experienced soldier? Check. Do we have the racist soldier who will mock the Native Americans every chance he gets? Check. Do we have the kind soldier who will sympathize with the Natives? Check. The checklist goes on and on.
The acting isn't stellar, and you will notice this right away. However, here is a scene that stuck out for me. For various reasons Nicholas Cage and windtalker Adam Beach are alone together. Cage just had one of his nightmarish war flashbacks, and Beach attempts to talk to him, but Cage just brushes him away. While Beach is walking away he turns around and says, "What is wrong with you?". This would have been a nice scene if only Beach didn't have an ear to ear smile on his face as he said that last line. There are also some ridiculous reactions to some extreme situations. This film is a good example of actors relying on the camera to save them from their half-ass performance. We come for the pay check! Unfortunately, nobody told the actors that the editors came to quickly collect and leave as well.

Windtalkers would have been a decent made for TV film, but not a big budget feature. Waste of money. Waste of time.