Hey folks, Harry here... While I've been in seclusion judging the CineVegas movies, which they won't let me talk about til later. So unfortunately I'll be missing seeing this along with a few other Summer films like... SCOOBY DOO... awwww... But don't worry, I fully intend to check out that potential larvae of festering dung on my own dime so my furor will be fueled by lost revenue too. Now onto Quint, who is just dripping with testosterone from lactatibles...
Ahoy there, squirts! 'Tis I, everybody's favorite animal spirit and truly crusty ol' seaman, Quint, here, this time with a look at John Woo's newest American film Windtalkers.
Truth be told I was a wee bit nervous walking into this movie. I've seen those reviews that have been popping up online saying it's a terrible movie. I'd also seen the reviews that called it brilliant, but had seen none taking any middle ground. Love it or hate it seemed to be the only views coming out about this movie.
I don't like hating John Woo movies. He hasn't given me much reason to, but I am one of those people who was terribly let down with M:I 2. I hated that I didn't like that movie. I love John Woo... he's an undeniable master of action as well as emotion. Anybody who has seen The Killer can attest to his talent in creating characters you believe in and putting them in the most kick-ass of gunfights.
So, it was with a love of Woo, but a fear of another disappointment that I entered this movie. So, where did I end up? Do I love it or do I hate it?
Neither, but I'm very much leaning closer to the love it side.
As most of you know, Windtalkers is set during WW2 in the Pacific... It's an Americans Vs. The Japs WW2 flick. The twist is the focus of the movie is on the Navajo code breakers and the soldiers that protect them... and the code... at all costs. So, you have these young Native American radio operators using a code based on the Navajo language, the only code the Japanese can't break.
Naturally, there aren't many of these code breakers, so the ones that are around are highly valuable to the US Army and the Japanese as well. The US Army assigns a soldier, a body guard, to each Indian to protect them... or kill them if there's a chance the enemy will get a hold of them, thus putting the code in jeopardy.
So, you have a movie where racism runs rampant, friendships develop and hard choices have to be made. It creates a pretty powerful atmosphere of fear, dread and hurt around these soldiers, but out of that nasty atmosphere comes understanding and great friendships.
Don't think I mean this movie's sappy. Oh, no. Hate, loss and hurt also bloom out of that nasty atmosphere. It's just some powerful emotion and character dynamic is all.
So, we know the story is there. Great? What about the action? This is a John Woo war movie after all. So, how about the action?
It's a very different type of action from Woo's other work, but it's just as masterfully handled. Woo really makes you feel in the midst of things and captures the chaos and frenzy that I imagine real combat is like. These aren't super-powered super soldiers... they're not Jedi... they're not always cool and collected. They don't always know exactly what to do. There isn't a leader around that always knows the best way to go about things. These are real people who might have an idea of what they're doing, but have no control over the outcome.
When the bullets are whizzing around, taking out hundreds of people on both sides... you kinda realize that anybody can get taken out. Those that survive do it by luck and instinct, not some Matrix-like bullet dodging ability or by whipping out their lightsabers and deflecting the bullets. Don't get me wrong, I love that over the top heroes and villains stuff. I love seeing absolute bad-asses do things that in real life can't be done. But it is refreshing to see real people, completely mortal, in these types of scenes. It brings a sense of dread and unpredictability to the film.
Of course you know Cage is going to be around for a while and you assume Adam Beach's Navajo soldier will, too, as well as Christian Slater's character, but by the midpoint of the movie, you might not be so sure who will be taken out next.
I'm not Nick Cage's biggest fan as of late... I think he's falling into a bit of Schwarzenegger-ish self parody rut, playing Nick Cage in everything. I love his early stuff, particularly Raising Arizona and Valley Girl. He's done some great things since, like his bleak portrayal of a haunted ambulance driver in Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead and his spectacularly over the top Castor Troy in Face/Off, but stuff like Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Family Man and Gone in 60 Seconds makes his flicks not always a sure bet.
However, he's great to watch in Windtalkers. Although he does put quite a bit of himself in his role as Sergeant Joe Enders, it never comes off as Nick Cage hamming it up for the camera. Of course some credit is due to the great supporting cast of the film, including (gasp) Christian Slater.
Also of note in the film is Peter Stormare (You know him... Ulee from Big Lebowski? "We'll cut of your Johnson!!!") who's always a blast to watch, Noah Emmerich, who I've been a fan of since Beautiful Girls and Truman Show, playing a rather uncharacteristic racist fuck in this movie and the fantastic newcomer Roger Willie, who plays the cool as shit and at times fucking bad-ass Private Charles Whitehorse, the other main Navajo code breaker in the film.
Also lots of credit goes to Adam Beach, the Navajo code breaker Cage is protecting in the film. He has a rather large range in this film. He goes from pure innocence to soldier/killer. You folks might remember Mr. Beach from that indie gem, Smoke Signals. He's got great energy and exudes charisma. He feels like your best friend on screen. I can't wait to see what this guy has for us in the future.
So, the movie has character, action and edge on its side. Why don't you love the movie through and through?
Unfortunately, there are moments that bring the movie down, moments of eye-rolling cliche. The problem with this genre is that so many great war flicks have been made that there are some seemingly unavoidable character and story cliches. They aren't bad moments in and of themselves, but when you've seen them done better in previous movies and they pop up in just about every single war movie... They just feel used, old. There's also a bit of a continuing romance subplot in the movie between Cage and Nurse he meets at the beginning of the movie (Pearl Harbor, anybody?) that doesn't go anywhere and just takes us out of the action and away from the characters... it slows the film down unjustly.
But those are hardly enough to bring the whole movie down. It's not a particularly brilliant film, but it's full of interesting, real characters, breathtaking action (flame-throwers are spectacularly put to use in this movie) and great chemistry. What more do you want?
There you have it from me, folks. I dug this movie a lot. With Windtalkers and this mysterious Period Chinese Rail Road Workers movie Woo is working on, I think Woo has found his groove again.
I'll be shortly heading out to Vegas for the CineVegas film festival, so look for my coverage of the premieres of such cool looking flicks as Run Ronnie Run, Poolhall Junkies, Spun and, of course, Bubba Ho-tep. 'Til that day, squirts, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
email: Listen To The Wind Of My Ass You Talkback Sons a Bitches!
