Nicolas Cage puts in one of his better performances of this decade on this one. He did a great job on "Next" the science fiction movie as well.
The story of the windtalkers needed to be told on film so it's a good
thing a good cast and good direction make this a decent war movie with
good characters in it. On blu ray the picture looks awesome and this is the route to go when purchasing this flick.

Virtually every scene involving the enemy in this movie makes a ridiculous notion that Japanese soldiers would fight a guerilla style war by running over a ridge like characters in Duck Hunt. Cage's own combat demeanor in the movie is silly as well. The cunning that this style of engagement would require is hardly touched on.

The story of the Navajo codetalker should have been made much more personal by giving more back story about the two codetalkers. While I like Cage, he just doesn't have the grit of Clint Eastwood, which makes it difficult to believe in his Rambo-like persona. The story deserves better.

I like Cage & Slater, and I'm ok with war movies, but this was such a let down. First of all, it ISN'T even about the Navaho Windtalkers, it's about Cage's character and his flashbacks to the brutality he experienced in combat, and these combat scenes went on for so long that I forgot what I was watching. The story-line for the Native American windtalkers was barely noticed because there was no real plot for either Navaho character. The script for these characters was probably two pages. The only big deal was in Hollywood because of the director. I gave the movie one star, and that is for the "feeble attempt" to show the heroic involvement of our Native Americans in WWII - but what a huge disappointment.

Some people may think that someone's head is cut off in the movie is unrealistic, but Japanese did it often in China during World War II. A interesting and John Woo style war movie. I am looking forward for his next war movie.

Sergeant Joe Enders (Cage) is cheating his hearing exam to get back out into the fight. What he doesn't know is that he's going to get assigned to a new duty, protecting the Code from the Japanese. On the surface, that means he's protecting a Navajo Indian soldier, a Codetalker, who speaks the one cipher the Japanese have not broken--his Native language. He's teamed up with "Ox" Anderson (Christian Slater).

He advises Ox: "I wouldn't get too friendly."

Enders is teamed up with Private Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), who is so new he hardly knows how to handle the food rations. He doesn't plan to get involved with his new charge, but he ends up doing so.

This is a tough film to watch. It's very real, according to the veterans I have encountered. It's a testament to the bravery of these young Native soldiers who helped us win the War. Very well-acted and very well worth the time.

Rebecca Kyle, July 2008