Windtalkers (2002)
Average Rating: 5.2/10
Reviews Counted: 166
Fresh: 54 | Rotten: 112
The action sequences are expertly staged. Windtalkers, however, sinks under too many clichés and only superficially touches upon the story of the code talkers.
Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 26
The action sequences are expertly staged. Windtalkers, however, sinks under too many clichés and only superficially touches upon the story of the code talkers.
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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 66,011
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Movie Info
Loosely based on a real-life operation during World War II, this action-adventure from director John Woo stars Nicolas Cage as Joe Enders, a Marine traumatized by the loss of his entire platoon in the Solomon Islands during an ambush he believes was deadlier than necessary due to his indecision. Suffering from eardrum damage in Hawaii, Joe manages to be declared fit for duty once again thanks to a sympathetic nurse (Frances O'Connor), but his new assignment isn't what he expects. Joe is ordered
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Cast
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Nicolas Cage
Joe Enders -
Adam Beach
Ben Yahzee -
Peter Stormare
Hjelmstad -
Noah Emmerich
Chick -
Mark Ruffalo
Pappas -
Brian Van Holt
Harrington -
Martin Henderson
Nellie -
Frances O'Connor
Rita -
Roger Willie
Charlie Whitehorse -
Christian Slater
Ox Henderson -
Jason Isaacs
Major Mellitz -
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All Critics (169) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (116) | DVD (36)
The energy and conviction of the action sequences don't quite compensate for Windtalkers' emotional cliches and historical heedlessness.
A powerful premise turned into a stubbornly flat, derivative war movie.
The screenwriters struggle to integrate the coded transmissions with the action, and the flamboyant set piece battles feel like so much empty rhetoric.
Top CriticThe history is fascinating; the action is dazzling. They just don't work in concert.
It's the best new battle film since Black Hawk Down.
A relentless, bombastic and ultimately empty World War II action flick.
War film relies too much on relentless violence.
Replete with Cage's finest angsty acting and John Woo's requisite concerns of friendship and rivalry in the face of violence.
With Windtalkers, the glaring refutations of time, space and reality impress upon viewers the simple fact that Woo is at his best when he isn't attempting anything more significant than the most emptily satisfying explosion you're likely to enjoy - a scat
A couple of cool jolts and a few tips of the hat to cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball save this one from being a total disaster.
What we get is a surprisingly entertaining film, corny as it is at times, that could have suited John Wayne. [Published 5-13-02]
This is the kind of film where you think you can predict everything that's going to happen upon the first shot and you spend the rest of the film praying that you're wrong. But it's fun getting there.
It is solid, satisfying entertainment, with terrific action scenes and a decent drama that never gets overplayed.
I didn't expect a comedy.
Too celebratory of Woo's good guy-versus-bad guy, buddy-buddy ethos of action movies to rise above the limitations of the genre, and too obsessed with its own seriousness to be a truly 'serious' film.
A vast repository of hoary, honour-code clichés.
You'd probably be better off reading Catch 22 - even if it is for the fifth time . . .
A premissa é interessante, mas o terceiro ato do filme, quando Cage e Beach se tornam indestrutíveis, estraga o filme.
It's tough to get worked up after watching superior films like Black Hawk Down and We Were Soldiers."
Audience Reviews for Windtalkers
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Chick: I'm runnung out of ammo here Joe.
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