The only thing missing was the white dove.

Rating: 1/10 (17 June 2002)

A typical John Woo movie with action in place of story, scenes that go on forever, and dialogue that tells you what you should be thinking. The only thing missing was John Woo's signature white dove -- or did I miss it?
This was not a movie about Windtalkers, but was instead about a very messed up character who drags a nice Navajo soldier down into his own private purgatory. Other characters are cardboard cut outs created to speak a line or make a point.
But since we didn't have any more than an hour of story, John fills the remaining 1:20 with painfully long battle scenes. By the end of each scene your nerves are so raw from the close scenes, quick cuts and loud gun fire and explosions that you need a break. Don't count on the break being long, though, because another long battle is just over the next hill.
How many times can you see Nicholas Cage spraying machine gun fire at a group of jumping, rolling, tripping, dying Japanese before it becomes old? The answer is undoubtedly a few numbers short of the times that John Woo repeats that scene is Windtalkers.
Please, God, send a white dove to save this movie from its purgatory and put it our of our misery.