I've been sitting on this film for absolutely ages, never having gotten the courage up to see if the tepid reviews were on the money regarding John Woo's latest film. I'm a big fan of John Woo's work, in particular his Hong Kong based work. Films like A Better Tomorrow (1&2), Hard Boiled, Bullet In The Head and The Killer are among my favourite movies, he is a major factor in my love of film. His early US work (Hard Target & Broken Arrow) were good, but fell short of what I knew he was capable off. It took Face/Off for Woo to finally find his feet in the US and with that film he took hold of the action genre again.

To follow up Face/Off Woo made his part of the Mission Impossible franchise with MI:2. It was a decidedly average affair, more a vanity project for Tom Cruise than the kind of movie I expected from Woo, that said his trademarks were littered all over the film. So It was with much trepidation that I finally got round to watching Windtalkers, John Woo's take on the WW2 movie.

If the film comes across badly, it is more to do with the ludicrous script than anything Woo does. Woo holds up his side of the bargain with some truly amazing action scenes. It's a shame then, that the script is a turgid mess of moral messages ranging from racial tolerance to the triumph of the human spirit, bleh. It's about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

The film really does have some cringe inducing scenes, from a red neck hick realising the error of his racist ways to the guy who asks his buddy to give his wife his wedding ring if he 'doesn't make it'. It's like the writers (John Rice and Joe Batteer) sat and watched every single war film ever made, then just wrote down a mix of what they had just watched. Tired, clichéd, formulaic, hackneyed, these are just some of the words that popped into my head during the 'down time' in Windtalkers.

Yes, it's the 'down time' that drags Windtalkers down; the 'up time' on the other hand is a joy to behold. I was interested to see what Woo's take on the WW2 film would be give the recent smattering of uber-realistic war films we have had, would this affect Woo's ultra-stylised approach to action direction?

Well, yes and no. The action scenes in Windtalkers are not your typical Woo action scenes, yes there is slow motion along with other standard Woo trademarks (no 2-gun madness though), but he has adopted the realistic style just enough to give the action a bit of an edge. Its no 'Saving Private Ryan', but the realism is just enough to give you that, 'Glad I wasn't there' feeling. If you can imagine the bastard son of Saving Private Ryan and Rambo you might be in the right ballpark. For all the realism though, two men still manage to infiltrate a heavily guarded Japanese post, steal a radio and escape with barely a scratch and having killed a good couple of dozen enemy soldiers, only in a John Woo film.

In addition to Woo's kinetic action you have the double whammy of US Woo film regulars Christian Slater and Nicolas Cage. Slater is an actor that I like a lot; he made some great teen films in the late 80's, early 90's that came along just as I was at the age to appreciate them most. Even given his recent 'problems' I feel he has something to offer the world of films and his (small) part in this film cements that belief. It's a solid performance, with just the right amount of cockiness balanced out nicely by a softer side that we rarely see from him.

Nicolas Cage (whom is another actor that I like) is a bit of a non event in this one I'm afraid. The character he plays is a veteran of a battle that saw him the only survivor of his unit; he's scarred mentally and physically. For almost the entire film he mopes about generally being in a bad mood. He does eventually warm to his Navajo partner, but it comes so late in the film that the eventual conclusion feels a bit off. Cage is clearly doing his best with the poor source material, but it's a bit of a shame he wasn't put to better use.

Elsewhere I liked Adam Beach as the main Navajo code talker, he had a very strong presence and his joviality worked well alongside Cage's constant grimacing. Peter Stormare plays the units commander and struggles to make himself understood thanks not to the sound of gunfire, but to this near indecipharable mixed accent. Is it American? Is it European? Nobody knows. Frances O'Conner is wasted as a nurse with a fancy for Cage, she is completely forgotten about halfway through the film. I suspect the rest of her scenes are on the cutting room floor. Jason Issacs shows up early on as a Major in a nice little role. I really like Issacs and I'm itching to see how he plays the deliciously evil Luscious Malfoy in the new Harry potter film.