An outdated and disappointing war movie from Hong Kong’s most successful export John Woo…
Even those who know John Woo’s backgroundand previous work may have been a little taken aback by this passe,unabated flag waving testament to America’s war effort. Even Saving Private Ryan wasn’t this naive.
Nicholas Cage plays Sergeant Joe Enders, injured with a burst ear drum but desperate to get back on the front line – since that’s the only place he’s really found a use in this world. Adam Beach plays Ben Yahzee, a native American Navajo codetalker who is placed in Cage’s charge. The only problem is Joe’s job is to protect THE CODE at all costs, not Ben. Meaning that if there’s a risk he’ll get caught, Joe will have to kill him rather than let the code fall into enemy hands.
Understandably this makes Joe unwilling to get close to Ben, which itself causes friction between them but, predictably, their mission to take over the Japanese stronghold on the island Saipan brings them closer together. Until Cage is forced to make that same decision with another codetalker, Ben’s best friend Charlie Whitehorse (Roger Willie). (Under the charge of Sergeant Pete Anderson, played by Christian Slater, we get to see the two men and their cultures bonding earlier when Pete plays harmonica alongside Charlie Indian flute. I mean please… it really IS that bad.)
Oddly Windtalkers seems convinced it’s a worthy movie. It’s not. It’s a dated hark back to the days of John Wayne, full of unabashed American pride – which must be unusual from a Chinese director (if not entirely unexpected from Woo). America’s war in the Pacific is a raw nerve, perhaps because it was echoed in the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, so any critical commentary about it seems impossible. The script is predictable and painfully old fashioned. The enemy rather faceless, the innocent villagers caught in the middle.
An attitude that compounds itself, as the racism Ben faces is rather glossed over. Only one character, Chick played by Noah Emmerich (The Truman Show) really gives the codetalkers a hard time. And of course by the end of the film has his opinion changed greatly by their bravery. Ben’s argument that he has joined the war effort because America is ‘his country too’ never convinces. That the Navajo language is such an effective code purely because America did such an effective job of nearly wiping out native Americans is never touched upon. And that the Navajo’s are portrayed as little more than commodities, expendable should the code be risked, only adds insult to injury.
Woo showed he could handle the subject of war quite effectively in his own Deer Hunter, Bullet In The Head -with his own script. Following on from the admittedly silly but fun Mission Impossible 2 this is definitely a disappointment. The plot may echo Woo’s perennial theme’s of brotherhood and honour, but shys too far away from tackling it’s issues with any maturity. Conversely, Windtalkers is also guilty of taking itself way too seriously. There are touches of ‘classic Woo’ – Cage often brazenly walks into the conflict, and is reduced to using a hand gun or two by the end – but this is not the Woo we know and love. The editing is pedestrian and very obviously NOT by a Hong Kong filmmaker.
Ashamedly, though, you will become engrossed in the characters and their lives. Ultimately this is an entertaining, well made film. Just duck your head when the director credit appears.
