War is action-packed!

Rating: 5/10 (18 June 2002)

This could have been a really good and intriguing story. Instead I walked away feeling as though I'd just been spoonfed another Hollywood war snack pack. This one disguised as an interesting story about the Navajo code utilized in WWII's Battle of Saipan.
There was plenty of blood and guts, loads of war-like explosions. There was dirt, there was fire, there was screaming and shrieking and human suffering. There was some superfluous and waste of time "love" story. Or at least unrequited-and-inexplicable-strongly-like story. There was music appropriate for letting me know exactly how to feel. Mostly there were a lot of unanswered questions. I left bloated by dessert and wishing like crazy I'd had the scrumptious main course I'd been promised. I really wanted more information on the code and more focus on the Navajo who fought in this battle. The way this movie told it there were a couple of guys protected by another couple of guys but mostly there was lots of hand to hand combat peppered by three moral dilemmas and four radio calls communicating coordinates. It was practically a christmas song, except bloodier and without the seven swans a swimming. C'mon, Hollywood! You've got the money, you've got the talent, tell us the kind of story you could tell us if you weren't so busy trying to cater to every teenage boy's vicarious violence button before Minority Report and Men in Black II come along and steal your audience.
Though the story disappointed and didn't realize its huge potential,
I loved every actor in this movie. Very impressively acted.