Great action, but a missed opportunity

Rating: Null/10 (17 February 2003)

Ive just this moment, saw Windtalkers. I was really excited about seeing this movie about Navaho Indian codes and the Battle for Saipan. The budget for this movie was immense and I was not dissapointed in the special effects department either.
However, as some commentators have noted, I did find the shooting of Japanese soldiers a bit over done. Scene after scene involving conflict, the US soldiers were shooting the Japanese with a bit of impunity whilst the US soldiers suffered more from artillery than the bullets fired from Imperial Japanese forces. The military adviser in this film really fell down on his job. Thank god I've never been to war, but I do feel the Director made the conflict just a bit one-sided in terms of fighting capability as the Japs it seems couldn't shoot properly. Im sure the veterans either laughed or cried at the ease in which the film demonstrated the taking of Japanese trench positions.
The duty of a Director is to get a story across and a war movie, especially now, is to show how war really is, so that the audience can actually get a closer understanding of conflict and its consequences. The film Windtalkers, did at key stages look at how war brutalizes people, and the characters involved explored that concept, but after suffering traumatic and terrible scenes of carnage that brutalization was replaced by deep friendship and the spirit and comradeship that only a combat soldier could experience.

Windtalkers should be rated as a great action movie, but it was a missed opportunity in regard to the Navaho Indians and their unique story & contribution in World War 2. The next time the Director embarks on a war movie, a little more substance in plot in place of action and unessacary diversions is advisable.