Woo misfires

Rating: Null/10 (28 December 2003)

Unfortunately this has to be one of the most disappointing WWII films of all times, and I say unfortunately because it had potential. The story of the windtalkers or code talkers in WWII is one that explains the legacy of Native Americans to the United States. The movie itself does an adequate job of illustrating the individual story of two specific code talkers. This individualistic approach to a war film is common in the genera. The downfall of the film is the terrible film making during the battle sequences. The opening battle represents the worst acting of Nicolas Cage's career. The music in the background during these sequences is pure camp, and kills these scenes all together! Woo pushes this film in cycles of artistic beauty and strong character development to scenes that are unrealistic. In all the battle sequences are so embellished that it has patriotic overtones reminiscent of Green Berets- A sad sign for a war film. In all the entire movie was best left to the base story of the code talkers, the fight scenes and special effects detract from the story. It asks for the audience to suspend their notions of reality, something most are unwilling to do giving the realism modern war films have to offer. I give it rating of 3 out of 10, watch it if you are bored, but not worth wasting your time.