Windtalkers Reviews

extremely poor showing

Well what an extremely poor showing from the usually very good Nicholas Cage.

Set during the Second World War, two men (Nicholas Cage/Christian Slater) are given the role of protecting at all costs two American Indian radio operators who use the ancient Indian dialect to deliver orders and so as to stop the Japanese from cracking their codes.

The film starts off very poorly with one of the worst acted war scenes I have ever seen.

The poor acting continues with a very weak acting line up. The story is very lame, the effects shocking, the deliverance of the whole message about the American Indian radio operators extremely poor.

Thank God I rented this movie for free and didn't so anything foolish like paying to rent it or even worse actually buying this pathetic movie.

Sorry to write such a poor review especially when its my first but wish I had been warned off this film by other reviewers.

Fails to impress?

This film should have been called superman or something, as the lead character (Nicolas Cage) seems to be immune to bullets and like? He seems to be able to kill 20 odd soldiers firing at him and then killing them all with his gun while standing up in clear view of them!

Silly, unrealistic war film!

Poor predictable flag waving

I like John Woo. I like war films. I hated this film.

Very predictable, very unrealistic combat sequences - it takes more than blowing arms and legs off to make things real.

Disturbing, but for the wrong reasons, it was similar to WW2 US propaganda war films. For example - in the opening battle, the Japanese are killed mainly as they stand up and expose themselves to fire, and the American marines are mainly killed as they help wounded comrades.

Awful, awful, waste of time. Watch Stalingrad, Cross of Iron, or Saving Private Ryan, but don't watch this!

A major let-down

Legendary 'Face Off' maestro John Woo directing vulnerable hard man Nic Cage in a searing, semi-factual war drama sounds like a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, Woo is fast making a name for himself with a series of damp squibs (from 'Broken Arrow' to 'Mission Impossible 2'), with 'Windtalkers' no exception. Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan' (and, to a lesser degree 'Band of Brothers') truly set the bar for gritty, realistic war movies, with others promptly following suite (see 'Black Hawk Down'). 'Windtalkers', however, looks and feels like a genuine Hollywood effort, complete with sketchy paint-by-numbers characters and a lazy approach to important themes. This movie is packed full of every conceivable cliche: 'If I don't make it out alive, give this ring to my wife.' 'Now you stop talking crazy boy. You're gonna make it out just fine.' The titular windtalkers themselves are subject to a few initial attacks of racism by their platoon, but wouldn't ya know, it all gets sorted when one of them saves a redneck's life. Cage tries his best to emulate Tom Hanks' everyman, but simply doesn't cut it. The action, meanwhile, is standard stuff and certainly nothing to get your pulse racing. In fact, some scenes are so laughable, they could have been lifted straight out of 'Airplane' or 'Top Secret'.

It's distracting enough, but serves poorly as a rivetting actioner or as a fitting memorial to the heroes of World War II. Avoid.

BOOM...there goes the arms and legs!

Is it just me or do they not make war films like they used to, although not as slow as the Thin Red Line (stare at the sea, think of my girl back home) or Pearl Harbour (2 hour bad love story, 1 hour action set) Windtalkers does have every cliche in the book, mentally wounded soldier, woman back home, racist redneck getting his life saved, hard-ass squad leader, unselfish sacrifice and bravery, charge the machine guns etc etc, predictable from the start but worth watching for the battle sequences, ultra graphic.....the Saving Private Ryan legacy to war movie making.

Good for insomniacs

You are feeling very sleepy...

Managed to nod-off in the first 30 minutes. This film is painful to watch, it is so corny that it is unbelievable. My ten-year-old son could have written a better script.

Definately one to avoid unless you need help getting to sleep!

WINDTALKERS

SOME PEOPLE ARE HARD TO SATISFY WHEN IT COMES TO WAR MOVIES BUT NONE OF THEM CAN UNDERSTAND THE MONUMETAL SUFFERING THE MEN AND WOMEN HAD TO SUFFER UNDER THE TREATMENT OF THE JAPANESE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND HERE WE ARE WITH ONE PERSON ACTUALLY THINKING IT WAS A FILM ABOUT VIETNAM (MUST HAVE BEEN WATCHING SOMETHING ELSE).

THIS FILM WAS VERY WELL MADE BY WOO AND CAGE PLAYED A PART THAT ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE, I FOUND THIS TO BE A VERY MOVING FILM AND VERY MUCH TRUE TO FORM. I WISH THAT PEOPLE WHO NEVER UNDERSTOOD THE CONFLICTS OF WAR...WHO HAVE NEVER HAD TO COME UNDER ACTUAL FIRE SHOULD REFRAIN FROM COMMENTING ON SOMETHING THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.

I WOULD WATCH THIS FILM AGAIN WITHOUT HESITATION.

What a waste of time!

After watching Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers this is the biggest let down, I had to turn the film off before the end as it was badly acted and boring, the plot was obvious from the first five mins.

[Highly rated reviewer]

josh worcester

heavely censored by the pentagon, as this film used pentagon funding for military equipment and as a result the true fact that solderis were told to kill ameriacn natives if they get captured is played down.

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Windtalkers

A very powerful film of Red Indians used in the 2nd World War using their language as a Secret Code over the field radios.There is prejudice at first,but they gain respect as the code could not be broken by the enemy.Good battle sequences and realistic as could be.