vchimpanzee I had heard about the Code Talkers and understood their efforts were important to winning World War II. I found the idea of watching a movie about their efforts interesting.I didn't really understand how Nicolas Cage getting in a jam in the Solomon Islands and acting heroically contributed to that, but I kept watching. Eventually, I made the connection. His flawed and damaged character was being put in charge of keeping a Code Talker safe. I hadn't considered the possibility of a Code Talker being put in a combat situation, and yet this movie made clear how vital their efforts were even on the battlefield. We also got to see how risky it was to be a Code Talker in this situation, since the Japanese somehow knew about these people and would find them valuable. Yes, the possibility of the code being revealed to the enemy has a tragic consequence. Many hard decisions were made here.Although I wasn't really prepared for battle and didn't like the violence that went with it, combat scenes were effectively done. Nicolas Cage, of course, is a Rambo or Schwarznegger which is good for movie audiences if not necessarily realistic. The relationships that develop between fighting men made the movie interesting.Adam Beach did a fine job and was quite likable. Whether he looked like an Indian or not, and whether he really looked Japanese (which became important in one scene), didn't matter to me. I went with my neighbors to the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina a few years ago and the campaign billboards, during a race for chief, showed a man who could have passed for white. Actually, Beach looked more like the other type of Indian. But the important thing was his character's pride in his heritage, and the scenes that showed his culture, particularly with his friend Charlie Whitehorse. The scenery in the American West is great. And the areas where combat took place also are nice to look at.I was impressed that one of the military bases somehow got a 50-star flag more than 15 years before there were actually 50 states. I wonder when that flag was developed? Still, a regular 48-star flag would have been better for consistency.If the objective was to tell people this film was about Code Talkers and to focus on a flawed but heroic white marine and show the Code Talkers' battlefield actions as a supplement to the main plot, then I believe the goal was achieved.

Sam Tuckey OK, I'll try to be fair here - this movie had a decent plot (or at least original idea) and could've been a very solid movie... It clearly had a good budget to match, 2 boxes ticked very early on. Unfortunately the rest kind of went to pot. Apart from the performances of Adam Beach and Mark Ruffalo, the acting was awful - from Nicholas Cage to the extras, from the delivery of lines to the deaths. The acting was very robotic and the cast might as well have had the script on screen with them.This leads me on to the inevitable shooting, killing, explosions, gun fire and blood... Now we've all seen Saving Private Ryan (if you haven't that is the War movie you must watch), so we've seen how special effects can, and are meant, to be done. Windtalkers gets that completely wrong. The blood looks more paint like than in Get Carter (a movie 30 years older), the unfortunate loss of limbs look plastic and the aimless shooting/ spraying of bullets (but still hitting targets) becomes evident right from the off. To top it off, Windtalkers uses the same explosion throughout the movie - whether it's for mortar fire, artillery guns, grenades or even landlines... Same explosion! It feels like they try to put in a lot of, relatively unnecessary, action to take the focus away from the diabolical acting... Unfortunately the actions scenes aren't much better.Pro's: Good and original idea/ storyline Adam Beach Mark Ruffalo A lot of action and variety of weaponsCons: Didn't fulfil potential Poor acting from all other actors Bad special effects Didn't give a realistic insight on World War 2 or keep you glued to the screen throughout.My thoughts: A disappointment overall unfortunately, I would've really liked to see the movie succeed.Suggestions to watch (WW2 American movies/ shows): Saving Private RyanFury Band of Brothers Flags of Our Fathers (American view)/ Letters of Iwo Jima (Japanse view)

cubsckc Believe it or not, I watched it a couple times a few years ago, but I watched it again today, and it was absolutely a stupid movie. First scene tells you the whole movie. The guy in charge gets people killed because he is following orders. He must learn to break the rules to save lives. He's tasked to defend a position and everyone dies except him and its pushed in your face for the rest of the movie with several instances of people dying. Nicholas Cage tells the last guy in the opening scene to jump from cover without giving him covering fire. STUPID! He says god damn you, because he was begging Cage to abandon their position. And go where exactly? They're surrounded in a swamp with high bushes with the enemy charging and firing in every position. The idiots that make this movie always think they are so morally higher than everybody else. With messages like... "disobey you chain of command because only you know the right answers that lie within your heart and true justice in the world." Yeah, let the Code guys get captured and suffer a horrible death because of the great and well known Japanese tactics they implement when torturing their captures, and while your at it, let the the secret code go out in enemy hands. Seriously?

dglink During World War II, Navajos were recruited by the U.S. military to send and transmit messages in a code based on their complex language; the Japanese were never able to crack the code, and the tale of these Navajos and their contribution to winning the war in the Pacific would have made an engrossing film. John Woo's "Windtalkers" starts promisingly with a young Navajo, Ben Yahzee, played by Adam Beach, bidding his family goodbye and boarding a bus to join the army. While the early days of Yahzee's indoctrination and training in the Navajo-based code are touched upon, the film soon veers away and follows Sergeant Joe Enders, played by Nicolas Cage, whose sometimes contrived story is more conventional and less interesting than that of the Navajo recruits. Cage is assigned to protect Beach and his knowledge of the code from capture by the Japanese; Beach is unaware that Cage has been instructed to kill him rather than let him fall into Japanese hands."Windtalkers" does detail the prejudice and persecution endured by the Navajos from both other enlisted men and their superiors, although to say the Navajos resemble the Japanese is an implausible stretch. Beach and Roger Willie as Charlie Whitehorse are the only two Navajo characters with any screen time. While Beach is a Canadian Saulteaux and studied Navajo for the film, Willie is a Navajo of the Wateredge Clan. Although Cage gives a solid performance as Enders and is ably supported by Christian Slater, Mark Ruffalo, Noah Emmerich, and Peter Stornare, the excellently conceived and filmed battle scenes upstage the actors. Often gruesomely graphic, John Woo stages sweeping battlefield scenes that are exhilarating and spectacular. Planes swoop overhead, bombs detonate and send streamers of shrapnel into the air, flame throwers ignite tanks and soldiers alike, and the camera moves in to capture a human torch or a savage bayoneting in closeup. The action and lush green Hawaiian shooting locations are beautifully captured by Jeffrey L. Kimball's excellent cinematography, and a fine James Horner score further enhances the film.A solid cast, good production values, stunningly realistic battle scenes, "Windtalkers" has a lot going for it, but ultimately the film missed an opportunity to recount a fascinating footnote to World War II history. The movie begins and ends amidst the majestic splendor of Monument Valley and does pay passing homage to the contribution of the Navajos to the war effort and final victory. However, the focus has been misplaced on a white solder rather than on the Navajos, which lessens the film's import. Instead of a classic retelling of a near-forgotten story, "Windtalkers" is a well acted, but routine war movie with some spectacular battle scenes that come perilously close to overwhelming the personal stories.