Windtalkers [Blu-ray]

Average customer rating:

Not what I'd hoped... (a history teacher's review)

Poor story telling - Lots of Unrelated Action

LOL

Well Done John Woo

Awesome Action Pic!

Windtalkers [Blu-ray]
Starring: Adam Beach , Nicolas Cage , Jason Isaacs , Christian Slater , and Peter Stormare
Director: John Woo
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: Blu-ray

Action & Adventure | Blu-ray | Formats | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000JSI7C6
Release Date: 2006-11-28

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

Description

In the brutal World War II Battle of Saipan, Sergeant Joe Enders (Academy Award(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),

Customer Reviews:

Not what I'd hoped... (a history teacher's review).......2007-07-26

With the title "Windtalkers" you'd think it would be centered on the Windtalkers, those Navajo codetalkers in the Pacific Theater of World War II. I'd purposely ignored this movie until I had the time to watch it since I was interested in the topic and have a passing interest in the Navajo culture, having visited the Four Corners area several times and having read a bit about them.

Anyway, I was hoping for a movie that focused on the Windtalkers - why they fought for a society that had conquered thme and now scorned them, what their motivations were, how their culture dealt with the seperation from the Navajo lands, the death and destruction of the war (briefly touched on) and so on. That would have been much more interesting and important.

Instead, we get a movie that should be called "Messed Up In the Head Windtalker Babysitter" - a movie full of cliche characters and soliloquies that just does not work. For that matter, neither do most of the action scenes. The first rule of a war movie is to make you love the character and then put him in all sorts of dangerous situations so you can worry if he's going to die. It's simple - the viewer is emotionally invested in the story. It never happened for me in this one, despite the massive amounts of explosions. War stories are not about the amount of explosions - the great ones are about exploring characters (and by extension, you and me) during a time of extreme duress.

I was glad to see Christian Slater get some work, though.

This one will not be staying in my collection - it is just not good enough.

Poor story telling - Lots of Unrelated Action.......2007-06-22

The movie SEEMS to focus on Nic Cage's character. However, there were other themes that the story teller only half-heartedly explored. I felt he truly did a poor job developing Nic's change of heart that it made it unrealistic at the end. Overall he could have done a much better job telling this story, there was so much to work with!

LOL.......2007-05-28

The worst war movie I have ever seen. It is in no way realistic. And to call it an action movie is an insulting joke. War shouldn't be treated as "action."

Well Done John Woo.......2007-04-16

Personally I view Windtalkers as one of the most realistic war movie, from the "horror of war" point of view.
That's why I feel very sorry that this movie has the same fate with "When Trumpets Fade". Too much negative comments for an interesting movie.
Anyway, Well done John Woo. Looking forward to your next War Movie.

Awesome Action Pic!.......2007-04-14

Windtalkers is an awesome action picture and I recommend this to those who like action, war and Nicholas Cage (The Rock).

It is not as realistic as Flags of Our Fathers (where people complained about the lack of action) and far more realisitc than Die Hard.

Compared to what has been going on at Hollywood productions (releases) in the last few years I can recommend this film highly, as I like Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers and Behind Enemy Lines as well. All these movies have something in common and that is they are based on History. While Black Hawk Down and We Were Soldiers were more accurate to history than Behind Enemy Lines and Windtalkers, I can say that these films are worthy action pics.

Well done to John Woo, and please more where that came from. How about a John Woo Berlin/Germany film (1945) with Nicholas Cage?

Average customer rating:

Not great, but mostly entertaining, in a mild sort of way
Back To The Reservation Once Again With Irene Bedard
5 Star for a B MOVIE!
What part is Navajo?
Bad, just plain bad

Navajo Blues
Starring: Steven Bauer , Irene Bedard , Charlotte Lewis , Barry Donaldson (II) , and Ed O'Ross
Director: Joey Travolta
Manufacturer: Allumination
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ASIN: B0001DCYN2
Release Date: 2004-03-09

Customer Reviews:

Not great, but mostly entertaining, in a mild sort of way.......2006-10-22

This is a low budget film, and some of the sets look kinda cheap and sparse. Steven Bauer is a Las Vegas cop that the mob wants to kill, so Bauer is hidden by the LVPD on a Navajo reservation as a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer.

Irene Bedard is a Navajo cop assigned to chaperon him. Her sister, Charlotte Lewis (with an English accent that's explained by her having a BBC reporter father and going to Oxford), falls in love with Bauer, and he with her.

Bauer helps Bedard investigate a serial killer (a Navajo witch who kills for ritual reasons), then Bedard helps Bauer confront the mob.

Ed O-Ross is creepily effective as the blue-eyed Indian witch (not the only blue-eyed Indian on this reservation). We know he's the killer from the start, so this is no mystery film. O'Ross plays creepy well. He was even creepy as the hero cop in PLAY NICE. And that Indian cop from TWIN PEAKS (Michael Horse) has a bit part as Bedard's boss -- always nice to seem him.

Unfortunately, this film is also marred by blantant and sometimes PC expository dialogue. When Bedard and Lewis wake up in a teepee, they say things like:

Lewis: "I love this land." (i.e., Native Americans are close to the Earth.)

Bedard: "I love the twentieth century." (However, we mustn't think them primitive.)

Lewis: "I love my people." (And please know that they have a strong sense of community; why don't we ever hear German or Canadian characters in films saying, "I love my people.")

This exchange continues, in which Lewis tells us that she loves her grandfather (performing a tribal ritual outside the teepee), and Lewis and Bedard tell each other they love each other (so we know that Indians have strong family values).

This is the sort of thing that should be shown through character behavior. Nobody talks like this. It's done to label the characters and telegraph the script's Messages.

Naturally, characters bring up "Indianess" as an issue several times in the film. And some sterotypical Rednecks make racist remarks (is this common nowadays?) despite Bedard being in uniform. Bauer beats them up to defend Bedard (so we can see that he's non-racist), but then Bedard beats one up too (so we can see that despite being a woman, she's strong; so we have a feminist Message there too).

Blatant Messages are common in films about little-seen minorities; I suppose the filmmakers feel a responsibility to "get it right." But the downside is the characters become symbols rather than people.

Even so, Bedard and Lewis are attractive and charming, and the blatant expositions and messages are mostly in the beginning, less so after the film gets rolling.

A mildly entertaining film, worth a few bucks if you can get a used copy on the cheap.

Back To The Reservation Once Again With Irene Bedard.......2006-01-10

'Navajo Blues' not only looks and sounds like a low budget made-for-television movie, but it has the dubious distinct of having one of the worst musical soundtracks I've ever heard.

Plot: Big city cop Nick Epps (Steven Bauer) is the key witness in a murder case involving a major gang figure. He is temporarily re-assigned to a remote Indian Reservation under an assumed name (John Cole) to hide out until the trial commences. A female Reservation police officer, Audrey Wyako (Irene Bedard) is assigned to the newcomer and immediately there is a clash between big city law enforcement tactics and the Indian way of handling things.

Nothing new or exciting here as you might have guessed. A series of murders begin to take place on the Reservation and the two finally reconcile their differences in order to work together and solve the case. Romance also blooms between Epps/Cole and Officer Wyako's younger sister Elizabeth (Charlotte Lewis).

Now for the reason why such a bad movie receives -3 Stars-. I bought this DVD for one reason and one reason only. Because it stars Irene Bedard. She's a beautiful actress that just never got that one big break that would have made her a major star. Best known as the voice of 'Pocahontas' in the animated Disney feature film of the same name, most of her on-camera time has been religated to small independent films like 'Smoke Signals' or television movies. Her best work thus far, 'Lakota Woman: Seige At Wounded Knee' is yet to make it to the DVD format.

-2 Stars- for the film / -4 Stars- for Irene Bedard = -3 Stars- Overall

5 Star for a B MOVIE!.......2005-03-04

This one would not receive a film festival award. You will not learn about the, Din'e (Navajo) People (for that you need to read -no movie will do that for you). Decent bang for the buck.

What part is Navajo?.......2000-03-28

The acting and theme of this film is fictional and degrading of the culture it is trying to present. I rate this film next to zero because it does nothing but create more typical sterotypes of the Navajo people.

Bad, just plain bad.......2000-01-17

At one time, a few years ago, when I thought of Steve Bauer, I'd think of Thief of Hearts. Now, after seeing this, it just gives me shudders. Not only was his acting abdominable, his appearance was awful. Someone (Hollywood guru) help this guy through whatever he is going through!

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