The film studio synopsis: On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan. For the next several years, U.S. forces were fully engaged in battle throughout the Pacific, taking over islands one by one in a slow progression towards mainland Japan. During this brutal campaign, the Japanese were continually able to break coded military transmissions, dramatically slowing U.S. progress. In 1942, several hundred Navajo Americans were recruited as Marines and trained to use their language as code. In John Woo’s Windtalkers, written by John Rice & Joe Batteer, Marine Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is assigned to protect Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) – a Navajo Code Talker, the Marines’ new secret weapon. Enders’ orders are to protect his code talker, but if Yahzee should fall into enemy hands, he’s to “protect the code at all costs.” Against the backdrop of the horrific Battle of Saipan, when capture is imminent, Enders is forced to make a decision: if he can’t protect his fellow Marine, can he bring himself to kill him to protect the code? The Navajo code was the only one never broken by the Japanese, and is considered to have been key in winning the war.
The Good: Seriously? The only good is the fact that it brought the Code Talkers to light.
The Bad: Where do I start? Is the movie called Wind Talkers or Superman IV? There are three parts of this movie. First, very short pieces where the Navajos show what they are there to do. Second, is the endless amount of boring dialogue. Third, Nicolas Cage, or as it would seem; Superman. Every time the guy is in a battle scene he takes his gun, runs out into the line of fire and kills about a hundred of the enemies. Does he get hurt? Come on, he’s the star what do you think? The battle scenes are ridiculous.
Frankly: I struggled to get through the last hour of this film. Minutes into it you sadly realize that its not about Code Talkers at all, its all about Nicolas Cage. I’m not sure where the ego came from, but his character Enders comes across as a man who single handily took Saipan. It’s asinine. They portray Enders more as a super hero rather than an every man hero. I was excited to see this film and learn more about the Code Talkers, but what I quickly realized was that this movie skipped all that. Watch it on the History channel; you’ll learn a lot.
+ charlie craine
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