rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2002
Directed by John Woo; produced by Terence Chang, Tracie Graham-Rice, Alison R. Rosenzweig, John Woo; written by John Rice, Joe Batteer
Starring Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Van Holt, Christian Slater
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
The famous slow motions that director John Woo adds in his films work in
normal action films like Face/Off. In a serious war-movie it is stupid and
after a while very annoying. It is just a small thing, but too noticable as
a very bad thing. There are some good parts in the film, some small parts
from battle scenes for example, but most of the time it is bad.
Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is a marine who has to protect an Indian called
Ben Yahzee who knows the Navajo-code. A secret code that was used in WW-II
in the pacific. The thing is that actually he has to protect the code, not
the Indian. He has to kill the Indian when there is a chance he gets in
Japanese hands. In this kind of film you know for sure that Joe has to
choose between the life of the Indian or protecting the code. You also know
what he will do. Yes, it is this kind of movie. Cliché after cliché, too
bad.
Cage is not bad and the other cast, including Christian Slater who also has
to protect an Indian who knows the code, is okay as well. The visuals save
the film a little also, but most of the time they are used in battles so
stupid you just don't care. In an action movie I don't care if the bad guys
miss a thousand times in a row, and the good guys have a hit every shot. In
a war movie I do care. The film is very unrealistic and John Woo should stay
with normal action.