John Wayne lives!

Rating: 5/10 (14 June 2002)

Just when Hollywood looked as though it was taking WWII seriously, what with all the commercial potential of pandering to The Greatest Generation, along comes a blood & guts exploitation movie that's updated the 1950's and 60's genre with Star Wars special effects, some realistic language, and politically correct attitudes toward race. Watch Nicholas Cage mow down dozens of Japs with his authentic Colt 45 and Thompson submachine gun; see Adam Beech deflect ignorant racism with mystical grace and aplomb; and Holy Toledo look at all them explosions! I kept waiting for Richard Widmark to come bursting over the hill guns ablazing. And how come the Japs didn't yell Banzai?
The movie does tell the interesting and important story of the Navajo code talkers. There's no sappy love story. And when it doesn't go way over the top into the realm of Sergeant Savage comic books, it also captures the confusion and mania of battle truly making this a movie that should be seen on the big screen.
But other recent films have surely treated the terror, sense of helplessness, and random selection of combat a lot better. Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, and We Were Soldiers all struck a more somber, realistic chord without getting too caught up in cliches of religion in the foxhole.
What's really disappointing is how the underlying story and brutality often get sublimated in the stylish choreography so that you're left thinking, "That's cool" or "How did they get that thing to blow up like that?" Unlike other recent combat films, it doesn't make you glad you weren't there and awestruck and respectful of those who were.