Windtalkers

Even as a simple but effective action movie (see Broken Arrow), Windtalkers would be too slow and ponderous by today’s standards. However, it doesn’t want to be a simple action movie, so it mixes Native American spiritualism and humanism into the firefights and explosions. And it does so to such an extent that the result tastes like a rotten apple. That Native spiritualism is actually quite unbelievable and is in contrast with the gratuitous nature of the heroic action scenes (slow-motion shots of Nicolas Cage after his successful one-man-show action scenes). The gratuitous action scenes also conflict with the whole humanistic level of the film, which is diminished by the depiction of the Japanese as a race worthy of damnation. In short, it is neither proper action in the style of Black Hawk Down nor “something more” in the style of Saving Private Ryan. Someone here either didn’t know what they wanted to make or they just fucked up. (20.08.2002)

A solidly directed film that became a huge flop. It’s hard to say what went wrong. Perhaps it needed a better script, but what it certainly lacks is at least one scene that would grab the viewer by the heart, though some scenes, especially the ones that present the Indians more closely, e.g. while making music, are sensitively filmed. And Nicolas Cage? He's not a bad actor, I can easily believe him as a soldier, but he is, let's face it, a bit jaded of late and doesn't have the potential to help hold a film commercially anymore. (30.11.2002)

John Woo is a director of action films and clearly does not feel comfortable in any other genre. War, in his interpretation, lacks sufficient impact. The only, but crucial, problem is that he behaves as if he is shooting his next action masterpiece and tries to insert almost balletic scenes into the film, which, however, have no chance of appealing to me when it comes to the soldiers who have just been killed. The brutal dose of detachment, characteristic of his previous works, only seems ridiculous here. When the main hero in The Killer or Hard Boiled stands against multiple adversaries, it is exaggerated but also stylish. But when Nicolas Cage charges into the trenches like an unguided missile in Windtalkers and starts mowing down enemies without receiving any harm, I can only shake my head. Moreover, the Japanese are portrayed as complete idiots here, popping out of hiding with their weapons lowered and their hands flailing, running directly in front of American cannons. The refined form and planes passing by the camera or a series of exploding tanks take your breath away. However, the content is desperately trivial. 50% (08.07.2007)

I'm pretty disappointed in this. Pretty much. The action doesn't have the bite that the other John Woo films have, Nicolas Cage doesn't really fit, and the story of Christian Slater and Roger Willie was much better and more emotional than the story of the main characters. If I wanted to compare it to Woo’s Hong Kong work, it would be even less so. As it is, it's a slightly above average war movie and a big step down in John Woo's career. (06.08.2002)