Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.
Direction
Woo's balletic violence in mud and blood
Acting
Adam Beach deserved awards, not oblivion
Editing
Studio hacked 30 min; still chaotic genius
Director
John Woo
Nicolas Cage
Sergeant Joe Enders
Adam Beach
Private Ben Yahzee
Peter Stormare
Sergeant Eric Hjelmstad
Noah Emmerich
Corporal Charles Rogers
Mark Ruffalo
Pappas
Brian Van Holt
Harrigan
Martin Henderson
Private Nellie
Roger Willie
Charlie Whitehorse
Frances O'Connor
Rita Swelton
Christian Slater
Sergeant Peter Henderson
Jason Isaacs
Major Mellitz
William Morts
Fortino
Cameron Thor
Mertens
Kevin Cooney
Ear Doctor
Holmes Osborne
Colonel Hollings
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Woo fought MGM for final cut; they shredded 30 minutes of character development. The Navajo co-protagonist became supporting.
Real Code Talkers were forbidden to speak their language in boarding schools—then told it won the war. The film barely scratches this hypocrisy.
US
