The biggest disappointment this year...

Rating: Null/10 (8 September 2002)

First, let me say that I really like John Woo movies, John Woo style and John Woo type action. Hard Boiled was brilliant. Broken Arrow is my favourite no-brainer action movie. Face/Off is a brilliant thriller with amazing action sequences. And M:I-2 is visually stunning even if Tom Cruise is annoying.
Which is why this movie comes as a big disappointment to me. Seeing John Woo direct Nicolas Cage (Face/Off) and Christian Slater (Broken Arrow) again seemed like a brilliant opportunity to see a good movie. And after recent war movies like Saving Private Ryan (great movie), Thin Red Line (weird, poetic), Black Hawk Down (unbearably stupid propaganda sh*t with great visuals) I was eager to see what John Woo would do to war movies, what he would add.
The end result is boring. Visually, it isn't anywhere near John Woo's usual standards, some of the action (especially at the beginning) seems fake and poorly acted, and the story is predictable and boring. The concept: During the war, Navajo Indians were used for communication, as their language could not be cracked by the Japanese. As they were so valuable, they needed to be protected, but even more importantly: The code needed to be protected, if necessary at the cost of their lives. So they were assigned marines to protect them.
The concept may sound interesting, but the script takes it and just goes through with the most predictable solution. There are few moments to take breath between the battle sequences, and in those we get sentimental scenes that seem forced.
So, what is the action like? Isn't that the question it boils down to now? For me, it is disappointing. An action movie is usually set in a city, or in otherwise peaceful surroundings, which makes the explosions and gunshots stand out, creates tension and supplies the interesting visuals that we watch these movies for (the Face/Off shootout in a pigeon-filled chapel is a landmark example). In a war movie, guns and explosions are the rule, not the exception, so they cannot take our breaths away unless special care is taken (eg Private-Ryan-esque cinematography). Which is why this movie fails: Everything is too average. Even the Woo trademarks (birds, stand-offs, two handed gunplay) are barely noticeable (pelicans instead of pigeons, a really stupid stand-off involving a Navajo and a Japanese, each with a rifle, and two handed gunplay? Erm, didn't notice it).
To me, the saddest point in the movie was when I suddenly found myself concentrating on the score, trying to anticipate the next tune of the music. The story did not manage to involve me, the action did not take my beath away, and all I was left with was annoyance at the music. A very bitter feeling, given the expectations I'd had.
3/10