My favorite of John Woo's efforts in Hollywood

Rating: 8/10 (3 May 2020)

Windtalkers is a very underrated and misunderstood movie that was critically panned and did poorly at the box office. In some ways I can understand, as a realistic or historical accurate WW2 movie it definitely isn't. But as a long time admirer of John Woo's body of work I can appreciate this and enjoy it for what it is. This has Woo going back to more of his style of movie, but with big Hollywood budget and an American cast. In some ways I am reminded of Woo's A Bullet In The Head, but not nearly as dark . To say this is action packed is a serious understatement and the carnage on display here is nothing short of insane, but also in the tradition of John Woo action films, it also is beautiful. No one can shoot an action scene like John Woo. Even though this is heavily stylized, the dramatic scenes are really strong too. This does well showing the comaradery and bonding between these Marines at war and makes these characters able for audiences to relate to and care for. Nicolas Cage plays the lead and is a complicated and self loathing man who is ridden with guilt and is in conflict with himself and what his mission might entails him to do. At the same time, while a dark and conflicted character, Anders(Cage) is ultimately a righteous guy who always tries to to the right thing. To be honest, before seeing this I was not much of a fan of Cage's work, but I learned if he gets a good role he can take the ball and run with it. That is not to say that the support cast was not excellent as well. Adam Beach and Christian Slater were really good as well and were a good contrast for Cage's more downbeat performance. While Windtalkers is very stylized and brutal it is not without emotional resonance. The film is also beautifully photographed and scored . This is not Saving Private Ryan, but it is far from stupid and well above average when compared to lots of more standard run of the mill action movies that get heaped with more praise.