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Windtalkers

5.7

26,633

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Original title

Windtalkers

Year

2002

Running time

133 min.

Country

United States

Director

John Woo

Screenwriter

John Rice, Joe Batteer

Cast

Music

James Horner

Cinematography

Jeffrey L. Kimball

Producer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Genre

War. Action | II World War. Based on a true story

Synopsis

During World War II, U.S. Marine Joe Enders (Cage) is assigned to protect Ben Yahzee (Beach) -- a Navajo code talker, the Marines' new secret weapon against the Japanese. 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?

Critics' reviews

"That's a fascinating, little-known story and might have made a good movie. Alas, the filmmakers have buried it beneath battlefield cliches (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"A powerful premise turned into a stubbornly flat, derivative war movie"

Robert Koehler: Variety
"It's like the first 25 minutes of Saving Private Ryan stretched over two hours. I liked it a lot, but the weak and the skittish are hereby warned."

Rex Reed: The New York Observer
"A depressing example of how even the most promising subjects can get turned into sentimental mush by Hollywood"

Lou Lumenick: New York Post
"No amount of burning, blasting, stabbing, and shooting can hide a weak script."

Paul Tatara: CNN
"A merely competent action war pic, boasting neither Woo's trademark balletic violent set-pieces nor any convincing insight (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"

Peter Bradshaw: The Guardian
"A lacklustre epic which, while fudging its points about morality and loyalty in combat, also renders the spectacle decidedly underwhelming (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"

William Thomas: Empire
"Woo conjures several quite moving scenes (...) But the screenwriters struggle to integrate the coded transmissions with the action, and the flamboyant set piece battles feel like so much empty rhetoric."

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Ranking Lists Position

64 My Favorite War Movies (81)

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Windtalkers

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