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As a movie critic, I try very hard not to pre-judge any movie based on its stars, director or storyline. I also try not too have any expectations, which is something easier said than done (this is one of the reasons I avoid watching movie trailers whenever I can). Yet, when I received my invitation for an advanced screening of Windtalkers, I couldn't help but notice that this was a John Woo film. My previous experiences with Woo have been — to be diplomatic — less than impressive. I pretty much hated Broken Arrow and Face/Off and I thought that Woo's take on the Mission: Impossible series was inferior to Brian De Palma's. Still, I went to the movie theatre with an open mind (I swear!). During World War II, the United States' success against Japan was hindered by the fact that the Japanese kept breaking the codes being used by the Americans. In 1942, hundreds of Navajo Americans were recruited as Marines to develop a code based on their language. Windtalkers supposedly tells the story of two such code talkers and of their "bodyguards" who were assigned to protect the code at all costs ...even if that meant shooting the code talkers should they be captured. I say supposedly because the story focuses almost entirely on Sergeant Joe Enders (Cage), the Marine assigned to protect Private Ben Yahzee (Beach). Writers John Rice and Joe Batteer (who also co-wrote Blown Away and Chasers) completely missed the potential of this story. The entire movie has the wrong focus: it doesn't show the Japanese breaking the American codes, doesn't explain how the Navajo language was selected, doesn't explore the effect this had on the Navajo nation, and the list goes on and on.
Instead, Rice and Batteer focus on Enders, who suffers from a war injury and from the guilt he feels for losing all the men under his command during a previous mission. The story could have done without the war injury part (Enders is deaf in one ear), since the only purpose of this detail is to introduce the character of Rita Swelton (O'Connor), a nurse who unexplainably falls in love with Enders (we don't get to see how or why she falls in love). In turn, this infatuation only serves to show us how little Enders cares about things other than War. To be fair, I should point out that the writers tried to illustrate the tough choices Enders has to go through during his mission: Can he restrain from befriending his assigned code talker? Will he be able to shoot him should he be captured? Unfortunately, these dilemmas are not properly explored and they feel like interludes between the battle scenes.
While I'm on the subject of battles, I felt that there were way too many of them. I know that this is a war movie, but director John Woo (The Killer, Face/Off, Hard Target) should have decided whether the film was about the horrors of war or about the code talkers... I was relieved to see that Woo had refrained from using one of his trademark freeze-frame sequences of someone shooting a gun. There were, however, many other cheesy and/or annoying scenes, including: the use of war stock footage (which can sometimes be effective, but clashed with the movie's style), a scene where one character encourages another to start smoking (I wonder which tobacco company paid for that), and — the cheesiest of all — a scene where one of the code talkers saves the life of soldier who has been tormenting him. I shouldn't be surprised to see that the movie is so flawed given the fact that it was originally supposed to be released in late June 2001 (almost a year earlier). That date was later changed to November 9, 2001 and finally June 14, 2002 (Flag Day in the United States).
Windtalkers does have a few strong points. The cinematography and special effects were without reproach, as was the score by James Horner (Braveheart, Aliens, Titanic). In terms of acting performances, Manitoba's Adam Beach (Smoke Signals, Dance Me Outside, Mystery, Alaska) delivers a strong and convincing performance as Private Ben Yahzee, a courageous and naive Navajo who volunteered to help defend his country. Nicolas Cage (Raising Arizona, Leaving Las Vegas, The Rock) gives a below-average performance, mostly overacting to get his point across. While this acting style can work wonders in over-the-top action films such as Gone in 60 Seconds (which I enjoyed as a summer movie), it doesn't quite work in what is meant to be a more serious film (after all, Windtalkers could have been Woo's Saving Private Ryan). Christian Slater (True Romance, Heathers, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles) may also have realized that he is more effective as a supporting actor than as a leading one. His role of Sergeant Peter 'Ox' Henderson suits him well, especially in a lovely scene where he plays the harmonica while Private Charles Whitehorse (Willie) plays the flute.
Noah Emmerich (The Truman Show", Frequency, Beautiful Girls) is also very good as Corporal Charles 'Chick' Rogers, a racist soldier who's determined to make life in the Marines very hard for the Navajo. Some of the most talented actors were, alas, relegated to very small roles. Peter Stormare (Fargo, Dancer in the Dark, Armageddon) doesn't get to impress much as Sergeant Eric 'Gunny' Hjelmstad, the leader of the mission. The other example is Frances O'Connor (The Importance of Being Earnest, Mansfield Park, Artificial Intelligence: AI), who's totally wasted in the superfluous role of Nurse Rita Swelton. On the whole, Windtalkers is a very disappointing experience, even though it does have a few good scenes here and there. In fact, this is exactly the kind of movie that should be the subject of a remake: plenty of potential, but badly executed. In my mind, this movie will remain "the one that could have been great"... Reviewed on June 9, 2002 |
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This page was last updated on: Sunday, 21-Mar-2004 16:23:43 CST © 1998-2004 Luc-Rock Paquin. All Rights Reserved. All movie images © by their respective owners. Used with permission. Before "borrowing" something from my site, please ask me. "Reel Canadian Movie Critic" logo by FranclyGraphic.com. 
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