Windtalkers

MPAA Rating

R

Theatrical Release Date

Jun 13, 2002

Genre(s)

• Nicolas Cage
• John Woo
• Adventure
• Drama

Rating (Stars)

Description

Having earned Hollywood's respect with blockbusters like Face//Off and Mission: Impossible 2, Hong Kong action master John Woo lends his signature style to serious World War II action in Windtalkers. Recognizing the long-forgotten contribution of Navajo "code talkers," whose use of an unbreakable Navajo-language radio code was instrumental in defeating the Japanese, the film serves as an admirable tribute to those Native American heroes. Unfortunately, it falls short of importance with its standard-issue story about a battle-scarred sergeant (Nicolas Cage) assigned to protect a code-talker (Adam Beach, from Smoke Signals), with unspoken orders to kill him if Japanese capture is imminent. This allows for an involving drama of hard-won friendship, but cardboard supporting characters suffer in the shadow of nonstop action that's as repetitious as it is technically impressive. Windtalkers is best appreciated as a more substantial vehicle for Woo's trademark ballet of bullets. --Jeff Shannon

Director

John Woo

Stars

• Nicolas Cage
• Adam Beach
• Peter Stormare
• Noah Emmerich
• Mark Ruffalo

Running Time

134 minutes

Original Price

$14.98

Current Value

$0.99

DVD Features

• Closed-captioned
• Color
• Dolby
• Dubbed
• DVD-Video
• Subtitled
• Widescreen
• NTSC
• 1.33:1