Product Description

In the brutal World War II Battle of Saipan, Sergeant Joe Enders (Academy AwardÂ(r) winner*Nicolas Cage) guardsand ultimately befriendsBen Yahzee (Adam Beach), a young Navajo trained in the one wartime code never broken by the enemy, the Navajo Code. But if Yahzee should fall into Japanese hands, how far will Enders go to save the military's most powerful secret? John Woodirects this "exciting" (Premiere),

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10277 in DVD
• Brand: CAGE,NICOLAS
• Released on: 2002-10-15
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 134 minutes

Amazon.com
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

From The New Yorker
Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage), a guilt-ridden Marine hero in the Second World War, receives a peculiar assignment: he must babysit one of the American Indians who speak a valuable battlefield code based on their Navajo language. The twist: Joe doesn't want to get close to his charge, Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), because he might have to kill him to protect the code. In some ways the movie, directed by Hong Kong's pride, John Woo, is a standard platoon film, but some of the battle episodes, set on the island of Saipan, in 1944, are spectacular and harrowing. Woo has a weakness for slow-motion sequences, but he stages fierce moments of hand-to-hand combat, and the grouchy, hard-won, never acknowledged love between the two men is touching, even if we've seen things like it before. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

bullets flying, bodies flying. yes, it's a John Woo film
Windtalkers is the story of two American soldiers (one played by Christian Slater, the other played by Nic Cage) who are assigned to protect two Navajo soldiers who work as windtalkers, transmitting messages past Japanese codebreakers using their code based on Navajo language.

Yes, there's a lot of violence. Yes, it's grim. The bodyguards, Cage and Slater, are instructed to kill the windtalkers rather than let them fall into enemy hands.

This is a big war movie, not quite on the scale of Saving Private Ryan, but somewhere between something that grand and magnificent and, say, Behind Enemy Lines. Cage and Slater do a good job with their parts, which aren't very fully fleshed out characters.

Woo's direction used to be so over-the-top and artsy... the fight scenes used to be like cartoons, with bad guy and good guy blazing away at each other with two pistols... the most violent scenes were often preceded by or accompanying flocks of birds taking to flight, and bullet-riddled bodies always seem to pirouet in slow motion before they fall down dead. Woo has left a lot of the old personal director's style out of this one, actually. There ARE a lot of bullets, and a lot of the fighting scenes are very unrealistic (true to old Woo there), and there is one scene very reminiscent of old John Woo, where a butterfly floats gracefully above a river then suddenly a bloody body falls into that river, destroying the gorgeous image, juxtaposing a graceful natural image with a gory violent one, etc.

ANYWAY, mostly this is a shoot 'em up war movie, and the old John Woo style is MOSTLY absent.

The story has that one feature going for it, the protection of the Navajo codetalkers, but otherwise it's a very standard war movie, in terms of plot. Still, this movie comes off surprisingly well.

If you're a fan of the American John Woo movies, like Broken Arrow, or Mission Impossible II or Face/Off, or you liked some movies recently like Black Hawk Down or Behind Enemy Lines, you ought to take a look at Windtalkers. It's not the best war movie of the last few years (I'd vote for Saving Private Ryan for that), or the best action movie, but it is entertaining and memorable...

Who was the movie more focused on?
As a nephew of a Navajo Code Talker, I would like to express my thoughts on WINDTALKERS.

First of all, if the focus of a Navajo Code Talker movie is supposed to focus on the Navajo Code Talkers and their involvement in WWII, why is the movie centered around Nicolas Cage's character while Adam Beach and Roger Willie play supporting roles?

Second, since a lot of folks are not informed about this part of WWII history, wouldn't it have been a much better movie if they showed the origin of the Code Talkers before they faced the horrors of war in the Pacific Theatre?

My uncle stood proud among the surviving Code Talkers as they were recently honored for their service in the Pacific. (note: at the beginning of the movie, he is the elder in the hat that talks to Yahzzie before he gets on the bus. He also served as technical consultant.) I'm sure after seeing the movie and having survived WWII, I doubt he enjoyed seeing the Code Talkers' back-burner depiction in the film.

Nice "action" movie, though.

WWII: John Woo-Style
Sure, it's overly melodramatic, and at times historically inaccurate, but if you've ever wanted to see John Woo try his hand at making an epic war film, this film is probably what you would have imagined. Woo reteams with Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater to bring you the story of Navajo American Indians who became code talkers for the United States during the battles in the Pacific. If this DVD is what I think it is, then it is Sony re-releasing a single-disc edition of the Director's Cut that was found on the 3-disc set released by MGM in 2003. Unlike many other "new cuts" released by studios, which incorporate only a few minutes of new footage, the Windtalkers Director's Cut includes 20 more minutes of footage, including scenes that beef up the relationship between Nicolas Cage and Frances O'Connor's characters. This is a much-needed addition, as their relationship in the theatrical version felt underdeveloped. Overall, I think Windtalkers is a triumph for John Woo. While it surely won't be regarded as his best work, there is definitely an audience for this action-packed war story of courage and honor.