2002, 2 hrs 13 min., Rated R for pervasive graphic war violence, and for language.�Dir: John Woo. Cast: Nicolas Cage (Sergeant Joe Enders), Adam Beach (Private Ben Yahzee), Christian Slater ('Ox'), Roger Willie (Private Charles Whitehorse), Peter Stormare ('Gunny'), Noah Emmerich ('Chick'), Mark Ruffalo (Pappas), Brian Van Holt (Harrigan), Martin Henderson (Nellie), Frances O'Connor (Nurse Rita Swelton), Jason Isaacs (Major Mellitz).

I almost hate to write a negative review regarding a serious topic, one that deserved to be told on the big screen, that of the Navajo codetalkers of World War II who pretty much saved our bacon during the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific.

But I can't hide it. I was disappointed in Windtalkers. It was a bit too conventional as a John Woo film on a subject that hasn't been touched on the silver screen and thus is open to artistic freedom within the war setting. Maybe even worse, it was entirely too predictable as well. Your experience may depend on your expectations based on this knowledge.

More disappointing than Woo's work was the music by James Horner, composer of one of my top two scores of all time, Glory. (No. 1 is Gettysburg) It just doesn't fit the story, especially during the battle scenes. It really took me out of the movie, feeling that it didn't match what was on the screen. Thus, I wasn't in the film, but knew I was watching it, detached from the characters. So I end up watching countless (seriously, I mean hundreds) of people killed in many gruesome ways, and not feeling anything.

Is Nic Cage supposed to be a Marine lifer, or someone who just enlisted? Because he's way too old for this sh*t. His charge is Adam Beach playing Navajo codetalker Ben Yahzee, a guy with a nice smile and heart of gold, but not much charisma.

The use of Christian Slater is almost unbearable. He doesn't fit any part of the movie and only serves as another way for me to be out of the movie looking in, noting "Hey, he's playing Christian Slater!"

The rest of the supporting cast is your typical military cast of fun, scared, racist, gung-ho, etc. soldiers. Most everyone fits into their neat little stereotype and does their job well, so if you go in just for that kind of war film, it will fit the bill. The few Marines beside me seemed to enjoy it a little more, being more familiar with the code of the Corps and relating to the characters more than me.

The only woman on board is Frances O'Connor as a nurse who helps Cage heal, and for some unknown reason falls for him. Seriously, I have no idea why. She's very pretty and sweet, and he has not one ounce of personality.

Also unfortunate is that it descends into action-film-pap, where one guy (usually Cage) fends off 100 enemies who suddenly forget how to shoot straight. In a movie that is supposed to praise the codetalkers, we get too little from the Navajo, too much on Cage and the wartime carnage. The training sequence is dreadfully laughable, and Woo only focuses on two codetalkers.

Then there's a moment where Yahzee doesn't talk in code during a critical moment that would have to be spoken in Navajo. That's rough. And it was a true happening during the battle of Saipan, which the movie depicts, and I can't understand why Woo had Yahzee speaking English.

As to whether Marines were really asked to kill codetalkers rather than let them fall into enemy hands and be tortured to reveal the code, that's up for debate. Codetalkers of the day did have bodyguards, but no one will devulge if they were assigned to protect the code in life and death. Most seem to say that it wasn't true.

What I don't want to downplay is the historical significance of what the Navajo soldiers did, because their language was the basis of a simple code (instead of taking an hour of deciphering gobbledygook, they could speak directly and get things done within minutes) countless American lives were saved. So for this history lesson, I applaud Woo. For how he portrayed it, I frown at him.