awful, awful, awful

Rating: 2/10 (29 June 2003)

Without feeling the need to summarize the plot line, I will simply state the major downfalls of this movie. Nicolas Cage was one the all time best comedic actors, why the hell anyone thinks that means he's an action hero is way beyond me. His character was so lacking any depth or believability it was actually painful to watch. Overdone cliche after overdone cliche plagues this film from start to finish and the importance of the codetalkers - what I thought was the entire purpose of the film - is left in the dust. Whenever they get in trouble they would invariably come to the realization "IF WE ONLY HAD A RADIO!!!" - okay so what did this codetalker do that a regular radio man couldn't have done? I have no idea - he called in artillery and planes. OOOOhhhh.... I still don't get it. The action is so overdone that it isn't even fun to watch. Impressive explosions a plenty, but in an age where realistic war films have become the order of the day, Woo snubs his nose at Spielberg and takes us back to the days when Rocky Balboa could take out a helicopter with a bow and arrow. Shallow and unredeeming seem to sum up the whole feel of the film for me and the only reason it gets a 2 is because the sound effects were awesome on a surround sound system. Save yourself the time and disappointment - watch Rambo instead, at least you'll feel patriotic. PS- I just checked the DVD box to see if I spelled Nicolas right and noticed that it says "From the director of MI-2" which makes the fact that I watched this my own fault. MI-2 was possibly one of the only 'ultra-Hollywood' action movies actually worse than this one. Shame on ME!