Little Nickie Cage vs the whole Japanese Army

Rating: Null/10 (15 June 2002)

I had waited quite a long time to see this film since it's postponement from last fall. During my 31 years in the military I had learned of the story of the code talkers long ago and wanted to see some honest portrayal of their brave history. Instead, we get a run-of-the-mill action picture with little to redeem it. Let's comment on the small good I found, first:
The best part of the film, hands down, was the very likable, dignified and honest performance of Adam Beach as . I could have done without everything containing Cage and filled the time instead with his great interpretation of his character. The second best part of the film was Roger Willie's performance as Pvt. Whitehorse. I loved this guy. He reminded me of real friends I had in the military. He very honestly portrayed a real man. He was far more entertaining to watch than most of the rest of the film. Mindy Marin should be thanked for finding him and Beach. The earnestly real portrayal of Sgt. Ox Henderson by Christian Slater was also more rewarding to watch than much of the rest of the film. This is not his usual type of role and I have to say I enjoyed the change. I hope we see more such versatility from him in the future. The man can apparently do more than pretend to act. Still, the standout was clearly Beach and I sincerely hope it at least gets him an Oscar nod. I would have enjoyed Frances O'Connor's role as the WAVE Navy Corpsman who befriended Cage if she had a more reasonable reason to be in the film other than a gratuitous attempt at romance - which miserably failed at that. She looked and felt real in her crisp whites and was certainly lovely to behold. Considering the gratuitousness of her character it's a wonder there wasn't a nude love scene or two between her and Cage. Her role wasn't broad enough to enjoy her much or harshly judge her but I've seen her talent before so I wasn't disappointed at least. I hope to see more of her in the future where she has more of a role.
The costuming was solidly done and authentic for the most part as were props (with the sole exception of the world's most powerful bazooka). I liked the locations chosen and the feel of the weather was a nice touch. I even liked the choice, though probably accidental, of the Navy M1928A1 Thompson for Cage rather than a later Army model M1 Thompson. Nice Marine authenticity.
There's the cue for my general criticisms. The director, like many of his colleagues in Hollywood, has a freakish fetish for fake gasoline fueled explosions (like with the bazooka). Real explosions rarely generate a bright orange fireball and there were scores of them in this film. Hollywood seems to feel that reality is boring. Too bad that attitude robs the public of a more realistic experience. Also lacking in acceptable realism were the sound effects. One would assume that with 20+ people working on sound, one of them would trouble themselves with what the authentic weapons actually sounded like.
One should mention Nicolas Cage's performance. Perhaps it's not his fault for being asked to carry a film with no plot and no depth. If one considers that, he did his part in providing an action hero quite well. Some critics have called his performance overwrought". I disagree. I have known real warriors with just as much intensity and introspection as the character he portrayed. Good for him. It's just that it was so unnecessary.
Perhaps some other, more reality based director may have found the incredible story that is buried here. Perhaps its not his fault and he was just doing the best he could with what he was handed. I doubt it, but one can dream. At least he didn't do anything to spoil the good parts and, let's face it, he may have even had a hand in Beach's and Willie's performances. That would be laudable and worthy of praise. However, other than my negative comments above, the vast majority of the film seemed to be Woo's portfolio of explosions and flying bodies, compliment's of Cage for the most part, and completely devoid of any plot save the gratuitousness of the carnage. Never mind the gratingly obvious errors such as Cage firing 8 rounds from a 7 round pistol, it's just had to swallow one Marine that's so gung-ho he could kill most of the enemy army single-handedly. Furthermore, 10% of what was put on screen would have been sufficient to demonstrate for the 100th time that war is hell. Their money would have been better spent hiring a writer who could actually find the plot and buy less gasoline. These two who call themselves writers have actually written damn little save, I'm not surprised, "Blown Away" and the silly but cute "Chasers". John Rice and Joe Batteer seem to be names to avoid if one is searching for quality. They are certainly not Steven Ambrose (recent controversies notwithstanding).
What very tiny bits of the film that were actually devoted to the code talkers was interesting and left me wanting a great deal more. I really did buy the ticket hoping to learn more of them and their historic role contributing to the American victory in the Pacific. I was sadly disappointed. I give it a C+, mostly thanks to Beach and Willie.