Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare

n the close quarters and brutal fighting of the World War II Pacific Theater, the U.S. Intelligence services desperately seek a fool-proof encryption code, immune to the code breakers of the Japanese....( read more  read more... ) The answer is soon discovered in the ancient language of the Navajo. Enlisted into the Marine Corps are several "Windtalkers" who are deployed to frontline areas in the Pacific, to use their language as an impossible-to-crack secret code. A drawback, however, is that the U.S. military soon puts forth a directive that the Windtalkers must never be captured alive by the enemy, so additional Marines are assigned to make certian that this directive is carried out to the letter.

Flixster Users

59% liked it

26,275 ratings

Critics

33% liked it

165 critics

R, 134 min.

Directed by: John Woo

Release Date: June 14, 2002

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DVD Release Date: October 15, 2002

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Stats: 2,615 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,615)


  • February 16, 2009
    Traumatized WWII sergeant Nicolas Cage is charged with the safe keeping of a Navajo code talker and ordered to ensure he never falls into enemy hands-no matter what the cost. From the very start, it's obvious that this is a John Woo film; the combination of slickly directed actio...( read more)n, sentiment and XY pleasing heroics is exactly what you'd expect of him. Woo is essentially a one trick pony; he is very good at action set pieces and this is no exception. The battle sequences are very well staged but often times it felt like the action was a little too relentless. Cage bulldozes through the enemy forces like Schwarzenegger on PCP and it feels like the characters are just a little too disposable. For this reason, anyone expecting a gritty, believable war film should steer clear. But although the characters are rather stereotypical and the culture clash aspect of the story a little simplistic and patronizing, the cast are perfectly likable and it never descends too far into the kind of mush Woo is capable of at his worst. Not exactly deep or insightful, but it's a perfectly serviceable action film that just happens to be set during a war.
  • October 6, 2008
    This has got to be the most retarded war film I have ever seen. John Woo desperately tries to make this a cinematical achievement he didn't notice that the more big unnecessary explosions he makes the more retarded and boring this film gets. From the awkward action scenes to the ...( read more)hilarious and stupid dialogs, this film is every shade of wrong.

    I had to actually painstakingly tread almost over two hours of this crappy heap of junk shit. This film single-handedly destroyed one of my favorite film genres ever. They tried to blend in a backstory that concerns Sgt Enders' (Nicolas Cage) past and the wrong decisions he's made and it still haunts him after all this time yadda yadda. They tried to give Enders some sympathy votes from the audience because he was just following orders and all that stuff. I don't know about you but I really think this sympathy ploy failed miserably. Not that I'm a man with a heart made out of icicles , its just that the way the director did it is just too plain, dull, very un-involving and boring.

    The war scenes wasn't a sight to behold. The camera angles is way too awkward and from a a guy who've seen a lot of war films, maybe the actors needed more time in boot camp. Talk about awwwwwkard.

    John Woo should learn a thing or two from 'Saving Private Ryan' before making another war flick. This one is a disgrace to war film lovers everywhere.

    2/5
  • August 22, 2008
    An oustanding war movie. An engagging, riveting, deeply moving and excellent movie. A pulse-pounding and exhilerating action-packed drama. It's brilliant, absorbing, heart-pounding and extroadinary. A breathtaking and edge of your seat film loaded with explosive action sequences ...( read more)and very powerful drama. Nicolas Cage is magnificent, turning a very powerful and stirring performance. Adam Beach is truly teriffic. Christian Slater is fantastic. One of Director, John Woo's finest achivements ever.
  • July 28, 2008
    The only thing that makes Windtalkers worth seeing is to remind movie producer why action filmmakers doing war films is a bad idea.
    While John Woo knows for to shoot impressive action scenes, the problem that he is so focused on the action scenes that he kind of forgets about the...( read more) importance of interesting characters, developed story or discussing the soldiers lives. Nic Cage and Adam Beach do try hard to make it work but they really have nothing to make the Windtalkers raise to the levels of WW2 classics.
  • July 1, 2008
    Great movie, showing the contribution that First Nations people made to the war efforts, and freedom.
  • November 6, 2009
    Very good war movie that will keep you glued to your sit
  • November 3, 2009
    les relations amour-haine entre les marines détruits par les ravages de la guerre et les Indiens navajos inexpérimentés, on reconnaît les thèmes chers au réalisateur, leur traitement est trop lisse pour convaincre et l'hommage rendu à ces messagers du vent anecdotique. On se cont...( read more)entera donc de l'interprétation de Nicolas Cage , remarquablement touchant en soldat blessé dans sa chair et dans son âme. "
  • November 2, 2009
    Cage is a soldier who is disillusioned with life until he becomes the guardian of a Navajo code-guy whom must be killed to protect the code, if necessary. They bond, each becomes stronger and there's lots and lots of 'splosions and people flying - due to said 'splosions. A perfec...( read more)tly average film.
  • October 21, 2009
    OK movie, nothing extrodinary...
  • October 19, 2009
    An interesting bio of our American Hero's.
    Like so many of our American minorities, their stories go under reported.
    Many Americans like the Navaho, Japanes Americans, and the Tuskgee Airmen need to have their stories portrade in the movies more often.
    My Blessings to all of t...( read more)hem.
    Virgil

Critic Reviews


June 14, 2002
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Despite some feints in a soulful direction, the picture has none of the interior quality of a multifaceted war film like Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. full review

June 14, 2002
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Windtalkers is shapelessly gratifying, the kind of movie that invites you to pick apart its faults even as you have to admit that somehow it hit you where you live. full review

June 14, 2002
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The Navajo code talkers have waited a long time to have their story told. Too bad it appears here merely as a gimmick in an action picture. full review

June 10, 2002
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The code talkers deserved better than a hollow tribute. full review

View more Windtalkers reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • babytyphoon000
    June 18, 2007
    This movie...is awesome, way to hard to explain how awesome it is. I can watch it over and over without getting tired of it. Main reasons why I liked it soo much is because it looks very real, good detail and one of the main characters dies in the end. I don't believe it was all about one guy in the whole marines saving everyone, even though it looked like it in the movie. Yes Nicolas was in there mostly but there was quite a bit of other characters in there too. Yes on the cover of the dvd it has Nicolas's name on there only but, ha ha, he wasn't the only main character. Jeez what is it with people and whining on oh it's just about one character in the movie, well have you ever thought of maybe it tried to represent more then one person? It's kind of difficult to have each character have his own major part in it, it would be like a 10 to 20 hour movie.
  • acestonewall
    December 24, 2006
    Hey! Idiots! It's a Fictional movie! Jesus. Would you watch and hour and a half of ppl talking about other ppl talking in Navajo? No! Nick didnt come in and make it stupid, he came in and made it Worth Watching.

    I give four thums up. exelent war movie, with some deep feelings, and the main character dies in the end, which in this case makes it sad, and even more interesting. I mean, how many of us get bord of the main charachter being the hero, surviving the whole movie w/o a scrach, and then get the girl? It just hapens too often.
  • Aaron2100
    July 13, 2006
    Just to correct a poster and the review gave for his stars. It's NOT Vietnam it's actually WW2. This is the Pacific Theatre. Meaning Jap's. Have to keep in mind in WW2 were facing two different country's and such on two different fronts.
  • dtgamerat
    June 12, 2006
    This movie seemed like a disgrace. It's supposed to be about the Codetalkers, yes, but the entire film seemed to evolve around Nicholas Cage's character more than the title characers. Also, it's just another typical Hollywood war movie. A squad gets into trouble, and here comes Nick Cage saving the day, blah blah blah. You get the idea. If you're expecting some serious history involvement, you're definitely not going to get it from this one. 5/10

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Windtalkers Trivia


  • who played "BEN YAHZEE" in WINDTALKERS ???  Answer »
  • Which actor has starred in all of the following:- - Raising Arizona - Con Air - Snake Eyes - Windtalkers - World Trade Center   Answer »
  • In Windtalkers what language was the secret code based on??  Answer »
  • What actor has appeared in the following movies: Bad Boys 2 Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World Windtalkers Armageddon Constantine  Answer »

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