Windtalkers (2002)

“What I’m about to tell you, Corporal, cannot leave this room. Under no circumstances can you allow your Code Talker to fall into enemy hands. Your mission is to protect the code. At all costs. ” – Major Mellitz

Number of Times Seen – 2 (27 Oct 2002 and 4 Apr 2016)

Brief Synopsis – Durind WWII, a war hero is assigned to protect and defend a Navajo soldier who is one of the few men who know the secret code that is based on their language.

My Take on it – I have never been much of a fan of Nicholas Cage because he usually plays his characters too intense or unusually cocky and they then don’t come off real enough.

This movie is a good example of that.

As soon as I met his character I didn’t care much for what he would do afterwards and I also didn’t care whether he would live or die.

Cage’s co star, on the other hand, Christian Slater does a great job with his small role and I feel was wasted with so little screen time.

When it comes to special effects and war action, this movie does it right but it still lacks a larger amount of heart which would have helped make this feel more redeeming.

This movie attempts to tell a very heroic and historic tale, but fails because despite the story being good, it’s just not strong enough.

John Woo is a great choice for director because he is able to get all of the action scenes done right.  There are some scenes that show some  of the real horrors of war between the US and Japanese and they are filmed in a way that makes them seem even more realistic.

Bottom Line – Fun action film but it lacks much more heart. The story is good but isn’t good enough to tell the important heroic message that they are trying to tell. Cage is his typical cocky self and Slater doesn’t have a large enough part to show his strengths.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Nicolas Cage actually learned to speak Navajo fluently for his part despite the fact that his character in the film does not. Cage later said that he did it to better understand the script but John Woo maintained that Cage had misunderstood which character he had been cast in.  (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy

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