While some may have used this fascinating subject matter to craft a serious drama with historical significance, Woo and his writers choose instead to stay with the high-octane action format.
Comment
02/08/03
Windtalkers (2002)
33
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:165
Fresh:54
Rotten:111
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: The action sequences are expertly staged. Windtalkers, however, sinks under too many clichés and only superficially touches upon the story of the code talkers.
Runtime: 2 hrs 34 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: WINDTALKERS begins quietly--with widescreen aerial shots of clouds that gradually clear to reveal the beautiful mesas of Monument Valley. A bus collects Navajo volunteers Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach)... [More]
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Christian Slater, Peter Stormare
Director: John Woo
Reviews for Windtalkers
Here, [Woo] has to deal with visual chaos. And he doesn't do a good job of it.
01/07/03
More than passable summer entertainment and I think if they were still making war westerns today, it would feel right at home.
12/08/02
...Windtalkers is one of the most exciting (not to mention violent) war movies to emerge in quite some time.
11/08/02
Inspired by true events, this war-is-hell action drama from John Woo is a failed epic that doesn't rise to meet the material that inspired it.
11/07/02
The history is fascinating; the action is dazzling. They just don't work in concert.
11/06/02
This film should be declared a health hazard.
10/21/02
At the end of the day, nothing particularly spectacular, especially when you consider the two men leading the project, director John Woo and actor Nicolas Cage.
10/18/02
The subject may be new to him, but in Windtalkers Mr. Woo abandons none of his obsessions with loyalty, duty, religious ritual, even birds in flight.
10/15/02
It resuscitates a neglected slice of World War II history (the use of Navajo tribesmen as secret-code radiomen) only to smother it with clichés and repetitive massacres.
10/10/02
...given its potential for telling a story about the courageous exploits of unsung heroes, the movie is a decided letdown.
10/03/02
It's vintage American Woo—hothouse theatrics with overdone violence that beats you over the head with its excess and implausibility
09/27/02
Navajos will question Woo's credibility with a silly cigarette tobacco 'ceremony' and his reliance on stereotypes
09/01/02
The prolonged scenes of brutality are unable to realize their serious impact against James Horner's rabble-rousing score.
08/23/02
A genuinely fascinating piece of American history reduced by Woo to a near-psychopathic bloodbath full of transparent jingoism.
08/22/02
Buena, pero....Woo pudo haberlo logrado, pero pequeños detalles y errores marcan la diferencia entre una gran cinta y un clásico de género.
08/13/02
Those 400 important Marine code talkers should have been the focus of this movie instead of one shell-shocked Marine.
08/02/02
About the best that can be said for Windtalkers is that it’s a John Woo movie. It’s too bad it’s not a good John Woo movie
07/29/02
Something we'd never expect from a guy like John Woo: dull, lifeless, unexciting filmmaking
07/27/02
The directive to protect the code at all costs also begins to blur as the importance of the man and the code merge
07/26/02
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