Windtalkers

During the second World War, the US Marine Corps relied heavily on sea and air support when fighting on the battlefields. To maintain this support they had to be in constant contact with naval ships offshore and supply the coordinates for them to deploy their artillery. This was achieved by way of code and although successful, their ciphers were constantly being broken by the Japanese, allowing them time to avoid assaults. The US came up with the ingenious plan of recruiting Navajo Indians to create a new code based on their own language, formulating one that would hopefully be impossible to break.

These new recruits were so successful and valuable to the US war effort that they were each assigned a trained marine as a protector on the field of battle. The job of the protector was to stop the code talker falling into the enemies hands and they would in fact have to kill the Navajo rather than allow their capture. The Navajo recruits also faced racism from within, but depsite this obstacle they took on the challenge to great effect. Their code saved many US lives and was never broken by the Japanese.

Corporal Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is a reluctant war hero. He has been injured during his last mission and is recovering in hospital, desperate to return to the war effort. He enlists the aid of a nurse that has fallen for him and convinces the authorities he is well enough to return to battle. Surprisingly, he is given a promotion to Sergeant and his mission is that of a minder, he is to be assigned to a Navajo code talker and his orders are to make sure his colleague doesn’t fall into enemy hands.

"Your mission is to protect the code at all costs."

Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) and Charlie Whitehorse (Roger Willie) are Navajo code talkers. They have been recruited and trained and are ready for action. Ben is to be protected by Elders while Charlie is teamed up with Pete Anderson (Christian Slater). Both protectors must try to maintain an emotional distance from their assignments, something that goes against the marine spirit. The setting is Saipan in the South Pacific in 1943 and the US Marine Corps are sent in to claim land occupied by the Japanese, their success will go a long way in ending the war.

John Woo (Broken Arrow, Face Off) is an acclaimed action director who also targets the human side of conflict. He looks at friendships under extreme circumstances and how the human spirit reacts to certain pressure situations. With Windtalkers the action is the predominant feature, but the underlying story of friendships and the importance of these code talkers to the war effort is handled extremely well - as is his emphasis on the marine spirit. Cage gives a convincing performance in the lead role, but the entire cast is well suited. The main criticism with this film is that some of the characters are not established enough, but this is due more to time restraints. As is the case with many films of this genre though, you do wonder if a character is about to die due to his lack of dialogue.

It is difficult to not draw comparisons with this film, notably Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down. All are driven by battle scenes and contain exceptional action sequences. Windtalkers gives the viewer access to battle scenes much in the same way as war corespondents had, keeping enough distance to allow the viewer to see the mayhem without getting too consumed by it. With these battle scenes making up the majority of the film, John Woo has produced them with stunning accuracy and delivers a realistic scene with incredible attention to detail. The characters are a little stereotypical, but for this genre that is acceptable, where would a war film be without macho marines?

The fantastic cinematography of John Woo has been transferred masterfully for this release. It is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is anamorphically enhanced for those with widescreen capability. The picture is sharp and delivers the colour palette that's used well, from the green of battlefields to the red of splattering blood, all colours are true. Detail is exceptional and other nasties like aliasing, grain and film artefacts are non existent. There are no problems with edge enhancement or low-level noise and the only slight problem is a touch of softness during some night scenes. The subtitles supplied are very accurate to what is said on screen and the layer change, occurring at 84:54, although causing a pause is not too intrusive. Although not quite reference quality, this transfer comes very close.

This English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is of reference quality in many ways. The sound of bullets flying past and planes coming from behind is done beautifully and really puts you in with the action. The subwoofer is active throughout, but really comes to life during the battle scenes, making you feel like the explosions are occurring in your lounge room. Although an exceptional audio track, it is also very subtle, the surrounds are not used just for the sake of it, rather they're used when needed and to great effect. Dialogue is clear throughout and there are no problems with audio synch, surprising really considering the additional sounds of a battlefield that could cause problems. There is also a Czech DD 5.1 track which seems a strange choice for an Australian release, but I am sure it's a welcome one for any Czech speaking Australians. Overall this is an outstanding track that is perfectly suited without being showy.

The musical score from James Horner also deserves a mention, it suits the film admirably and is again neither intrusive or showy. A good musical score should be one that builds scenes without dominating them, and this does that perfectly. It truly is not memorable and I mean that in a good way, if the music is too memorable then attention has been taken away from the scene it accompanied and that should not happen.

Compared to the US release of Windtalkers, which only supplied a couple of trailers, the Region 4 release contains a few good quality extras. There is surprisingly no theatrical trailer supplied with this release, but the remainder of extras are very good.

Audio Commentaries
There are two audio commentaries supplied. The first is with Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater, and is the better of the two. The two leading actors recount their experiences while making the film and working with John Woo. The second commentary is with Roger Willie and Navajo code talker Albert Smith and although not as much fun or as well paced as the first commentary, is still an interesting listen. It is intriguing to hear the perspective of a Navajo that actually served during the war as a code talker and this commentary looks more at personal experience than the film itself.

Windtalkers Bravo Special
With a running time of 11:25, this featurette contains interviews with cast and crew and behind the scenes footage. It really is nothing more than a promotional featurette, but is welcome nonetheless.

Actor's Boot Camp
To prepare for their roles, actors were sent to boot camp to endure several days of training. This featurette looks at the training they went through as well as manoeuvres and male bonding and runs for 15:06 in total.

Fly on the Set
This sectrion contains four featurettes that look at the preparation and filming of certain scenes. Those looked at are... Marine March on Saipan (8.55), Bazooka (4.33), Friendly Fire (6.40) and Village Ambush (3.29).

Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery
Presented in a nice format, this feature contains 35 behind the scenes snaps.

For those in need of a testosterone overload, or historians with a fascination for World War II, Windtalkers is an excellent film. The battle scenes dominate and these are filmed and presented beautifully. The video and audio transfers are close to reference quality and the extras supplied are reasonable, in fact compared to the US release they are bountiful. So if you are a fan of this genre then you should enjoy this film. Those that enjoy good cinema will be impressed by the action sequences, but may find the dramatic content lacking when compared to films such as Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down. Whichever category you fit into, there should be enough here to at least warrant a viewing.