Guest zwolf1 Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 Anybody seen this? I'm a John Woo fan, but I've heard this movie's really terrible, so I've been hesitant to shell out the bucks for it. Is it really as bad as they say? Woo's most recent (i.e. his American) stuff has been on kind of a downslide... I'm just wondering if this is even further down the slope? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lemming Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 The Windtalkers will whisper you to sleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gimpusmons Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Big disappointment. Woo failed to focus enough audience attention on the real hereos (The Navajo) and their job (coding messages). Plus, as a WW2 movie, it's very conventional. I didn't care too much for THE THIN RED LINE, but as another film covering the Pacific theater of operations, it was more interesting and creative. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Acura NSX Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 While not exactly the best movie that Woo's ever done (not even close, actually..) I still think that Windtalkers would be worth picking up if found cheap enough. A few flashes of trademark Woo are in the movie, however, it's far from his best. To sum it up, if you're a hardcore Woo fan, then go for it zwolf. If not, then tread with caution. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sephersephiroth Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 I'd say it was worth seeing at least once. By no means one of Woo's best and not worth owning unless its real cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zwolf1 Posted February 15, 2003 Share Posted February 15, 2003 Thanks for the info, guys! I think I'll probably hold off on that one and see if it makes it to Wal-Mart's ten-buck rack someday... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted May 2, 2021 Member Share Posted May 2, 2021 I remember being disappointed when it came out. I was expecting another Bullet in the Head. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted May 2, 2021 Member Share Posted May 2, 2021 19 hours ago, Cognoscente said: I remember being disappointed when it came out. I was expecting another Bullet in the Head. I enjoyed this a lot more upon my second viewing, there's an Extened Cut out there too at least on DVD. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted February 26, 2022 Member Share Posted February 26, 2022 I recently got into Woo's movies so there's a handful of his movies on their way to me... Hand of Death, Money Crazy, Last Hurrah for Chivalry, Mission: Impossible II, and this movie. I remember enjoying it when it came out in 2002. That was the only time I watched the movie so I don't remember much of it now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted August 1, 2023 Member Share Posted August 1, 2023 Windtalkers (2022: John Woo): there is a dichotomy of opinions on this and it has to do with what a person considers more important. If the story is your main concern, I can certainly see this as a cliché-ridden movie, but if you like action and kinetic direction then you might feel this is a good movie. Ultimately, I liked this. I am a John Woo fan and have put this off for years due to the trepidation of the reviews I had read. Now I watched the Director’s Cut (a 19-minute difference, but more film was added and a few scenes modified) and that might mean a world of difference. The movie starts off almost too cliché with a 1943 Solomon Islands scene which haunts the Nicholas Cage character Joe Enders where he is wounded and lost a lot of his hearing. There are flashbacks interspersed throughout the film and they were often annoying. Enders along with Christian Slater (I mean Jack Nicholson I mean Ox Henderson) are assigned to protect (or kill them if they fall into enemy hands) two Navajo marines whose language is used as an unbreakable code to frustrate Japanese interlopers (such an interesting real-life story). Adam Beach as Ben Yahzee here reminds me of his performance in the later Flags of our Fathers with the obvious WWII connection. The more I ponder on the plot, the less thrilled I am overall about the film. A lot of it is boilerplate. But the action sequences are quite good. Like Michael Bay, Woo knows his explosions (and with his Hong Kong films also can be a bit dangerous to be around – Chow Yun-fat did lose some hearing because of Woo in A Better Tomorrow 2). I also like Nicholas Cage and Nicholas Cage with a tommy gun (which was used in WWII) is even more fun (he also seems to avoid bullets quite well). His hyperrealistic style for me is fun (and even more hilarious is that he is more constrained here than in a lot of his other films). It is nice to see him pair off with Woo again (Face/Off in 1997) and I really wish they worked more together. They complement each other well. It is like adding gasoline to an explosion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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