- Actors: Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo
- Directors: John Woo
- Writers: Joe Batteer, John Rice
- Producers: Alison R. Rosenzweig, Arthur Anderson, C.O. Erickson, Caroline Macaulay, John J. Smith
- Format: Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language English, Japanese
- Subtitles: French, Spanish
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: R (Restricted) (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
- DVD Release Date: 15 Oct 2002
- Run Time: 134 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005JK8K
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 126,137 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
From mid-1942 to the end of the Pacific war, approximately 400 Navajo Indians served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute units as "code talkers". Their job was to transmit military traffic by radio and telephone in their native language. It was a code the Japanese never cracked. This is the inner kernel of the script for WINDTALKERS.
Nicolas Cage plays Sgt. Joe Enders. He's already demonstrated his ability to follow orders. In the Solomon Islands campaign, his unit fought to the last man - Enders himself - to defend some piece of scummy swamp. After recovering from injuries, Joe is assigned as guardian to a newly enlisted Navajo, Pvt. Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), who's a rookie radioman in a Marine recon outfit that's part of the assault on Saipan. Joe's orders are to protect the Navajo code "at all costs", which means, in effect, that Enders must be ready to kill Yahzee rather than allow the latter to be captured by the enemy.
Director John Woo has buried the nugget of a pretty good story in so many dead bodies and special effects that it's virtually lost to view. Woo must have been trying to outdo WE WERE SOLDIERS and BLACK HAWK DOWN in body count. Even when the beleaguered Marines discover they're almost out of ammo, they still manage to mow down the onrushing Japanese in scores. Joe Enders himself, suffering the guilt and rage from being the only survivor of his former Solomon Islands unit, is a one man killing machine seemingly capable of storming Tokyo single-handed. The hapless Ben finds himself put in harm's way as he's forced to trail along after his minder and watch the carnage. The combat action isn't even always plausible. At one point, a Marine infantry column in a valley is having the bejeezus kicked out of it by Japanese artillery entrenched on a ridgeline. Somewhere between the two, the last of our heroes' recon unit is scrambling to recover a radio - the last one on Earth apparently - with which an air strike can be called in to paste the bad guys. Are you telling me that the larger Marine detachment in the valley didn't have its own communications gear to call for help?
I'm awarding three generous stars to WINDTALKERS solely on the strength of Cage's gritty performance as the vengeance-obsessed Enders. And although Beach has extensive screen time as the naive Navajo who must become a warrior while under fire, he rarely serves as much more than a foil for Joe's wild-eyed blood lust. The battle sequences themselves are fairly good, though those in the other two films mentioned in this review are a cut above by far. Quantity doesn't necessarily equate with quality.
If anything, this film may inspire the viewer to do additional research on the role of the World War II Navajo code talkers. That, I guess, is something.
Nicolas Cage plays Sgt. Joe Enders. He's already demonstrated his ability to follow orders. In the Solomon Islands campaign, his unit fought to the last man - Enders himself - to defend some piece of scummy swamp. After recovering from injuries, Joe is assigned as guardian to a newly enlisted Navajo, Pvt. Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), who's a rookie radioman in a Marine recon outfit that's part of the assault on Saipan. Joe's orders are to protect the Navajo code "at all costs", which means, in effect, that Enders must be ready to kill Yahzee rather than allow the latter to be captured by the enemy.
Director John Woo has buried the nugget of a pretty good story in so many dead bodies and special effects that it's virtually lost to view. Woo must have been trying to outdo WE WERE SOLDIERS and BLACK HAWK DOWN in body count. Even when the beleaguered Marines discover they're almost out of ammo, they still manage to mow down the onrushing Japanese in scores. Joe Enders himself, suffering the guilt and rage from being the only survivor of his former Solomon Islands unit, is a one man killing machine seemingly capable of storming Tokyo single-handed. The hapless Ben finds himself put in harm's way as he's forced to trail along after his minder and watch the carnage. The combat action isn't even always plausible. At one point, a Marine infantry column in a valley is having the bejeezus kicked out of it by Japanese artillery entrenched on a ridgeline. Somewhere between the two, the last of our heroes' recon unit is scrambling to recover a radio - the last one on Earth apparently - with which an air strike can be called in to paste the bad guys. Are you telling me that the larger Marine detachment in the valley didn't have its own communications gear to call for help?
I'm awarding three generous stars to WINDTALKERS solely on the strength of Cage's gritty performance as the vengeance-obsessed Enders. And although Beach has extensive screen time as the naive Navajo who must become a warrior while under fire, he rarely serves as much more than a foil for Joe's wild-eyed blood lust. The battle sequences themselves are fairly good, though those in the other two films mentioned in this review are a cut above by far. Quantity doesn't necessarily equate with quality.
If anything, this film may inspire the viewer to do additional research on the role of the World War II Navajo code talkers. That, I guess, is something.
Format:DVD
A decent warfilm that shows another side of the war, racism and cultural issues within the SU army.
I thought Cage was very good, and as a John Woo film you get lots of actions, explosions etc
I thought Cage was very good, and as a John Woo film you get lots of actions, explosions etc
Format:DVD
I was looking forward to this DVD as I had heard about it and was intrigued by the thought of the deception by the Americans using Native Americans speaking in their own language to fool the Japanese. I believe that Welsh speakers were used by our Army in WW11. I enjoyed the film although it is extremely noisy and is let down by having Nicholas Cage in it. I read about the real Windtalkers on line and it seems to follow reality pretty well. If you like war films, as I do you will enjoy this. I particularly enjoyed hearing the Native American language and looked up the alphabet and learned a few words. I wanted to find out what happened to the Windtalkers after the war, those who survived went back to their homes and continued life normally although I believe they were never really recognised for their bravery.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
interesting story but poor screenplay, CGI and acting
This movie is a disappointment. Cage does his part pretty well, but most others seem unnatural characters, it all seems a bit too fake. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Carno Polo
So typical of many war films - a disapointment
I watched this film, my main interest being the Navajo Indian codetalkers of WWII, the only successful code never broken and one essential in winning the war in the Pacific. Read more
Published 5 months ago by RR Waller
Not really about the code talkers in the end...
"Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima." So said Major Howard Connor of the 5th Marine Division in response to the invaluable contribution the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by jijiandnoah
i found this dvd to be in perfect condition and thats not half bad 4 a...
seen the film b4..but had to own it ..chuffed to bits now.and it came within 2 days..well done to all at amazon...
Published 15 months ago by blondy
windtalkers
I read a critic had said that Cage looked a little weary in this film no wonder he dodged that many bullets! Entertaining. Read more
Published 17 months ago by MIKEE
Not so impressed
I love the film but wasn't impressed with the picture quality on Blu-ray. I've only recently bought a hi-def t.v. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Ed Banger
Great Transfer... DTS-HD MA sounds great!
Well, I just got my copy and I put my Bluray on my player. A good picture transfer, but i was impressed by the DTS-HD audio, very good balanced audio, clear dialogue and the... Read more
Published on 28 April 2010 by Florin FANAJ
Explains a lot about the US military
This should be essential viewing for all UK politicians and the Ministry of Defence. It explains a lot about how the US wages war. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2010 by AV maestro
John Woo's Masterpiece ( So Far !! )
Once again the Master of War Action Film has triuphed again.....
A really great all- action ,all -rounder; with a truly good script, but the all importantitem: EDITING ! Read more
A really great all- action ,all -rounder; with a truly good script, but the all importantitem: EDITING ! Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2009 by David J. Gosling
Excellent
I had this on DVD but having it on Blu-Ray now is awesome. I am a collecter of war films and this one has a great deal going for it. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2009 by Mikejh7
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