Windtalkers isn't a horrible movie. It's an average movie at best and is nowhere near the greats like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down are. My biggest beef with the movie is casting Nicolas Cage in the lead role. He is just completely out of his element and has no reason to be in this one. His "acting" doesn't lend itself well to something of historical value as this one. Popcorn flicks like The Rock, Face/Off and Con Air make dealing with his acting more bearable. When in the confines of a WWII flick, it's very painful to watch someone hamming it up as bad as he does here. The other thing that I think really harms the film is the story itself, especially the characters. All the soldiers are nothing more than set pieces to be moved around from one battle to the next. We are never given the opportunity to care or empathize with them. So at no point do we really even care for them when they bite the bullet. (Watch Saving Private Ryan to see how it's done the right way).

The one exception to this is of course the relationship between Christian Slater's character and Roger Willie's 'Whitehorse'. I find it somewhat striking that they were able to get across good chemistry with each other up on the big screen, something that Nic Cage and Adam Beach had none of. And these two are suppose to be carrying the movie. So, I think the fault in the movie definitely lies with the writers and not John Woo, which a lot of people like to say is to blame. Worth a Rent if you're a War Movie fan as it's got lots of bloody fights and whatnot.