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Windtalkers (Special Director's Edition)
Stars:
Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Van
Holt, Martin Henderson, Roger Willie, Frances O’Connor, Christian Slater, and
Jason Isaacs
Writers:
John Rice and Joe Batter
Director:
John Woo
Feature
length: 2 hours and 33 minutes
Extras:
Director’s Introduction, Three Feature Length Audio Commentary Tracks,
Original Theatrical Trailers, Historical Documentary, WWII Tribute Piece,
Featurettes, Set Diaries, Multi-View Battle Sequences, Photo Gallery,
Director’s Biographical Notes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French, Spanish, and Portuguese
Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Three-Disc Digipack Gatefold Within A Glossy Slipcase
Chapter
Stops: 40
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
In
the brutal World War II Battle of Saipan, Sergeant Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage)
guards and ultimately befriends Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), a young Navajo trained
in the one wartime code never broken by the enemy, the Navajo Code. However if
Yahzee should fall into Japanese hands, Ender must protect the code at all
costs. “Windtalkers” is a tense and graphic war drama inspired by the true
story of Navajo soldiers whose courage and sacrifice helped win the war in the
Pacific.
Directed
by John Woo, “Windtalkers” the action sequences in “Windtalkers” are
well choreographed with a mix of hand to hand combat, including some knife
fighting and of course the heavy artillery. There is some stock footage shots of
battleships shooting shells from the sea at enemy positions coded in by the
Navajo soldier teams. They look as if some computer touchups have been used,
colorized, and even cleaned up some, but it looks weird and doesn’t cut well
with the rest of the live action fight scenes. There is a small “Saving
Private Ryan” like similarity with the concept of protecting our protagonist
Navajo soldier, but the similarities end in part with the fact that this was not
a keep your guy alive at all costs mission as much as it is keep the code alive
so we do see an execution like scene where an American soldier must eliminate
the Navajo code soldier so that the Japanese cannot break the code. The Japanese
never broke the code during World War II. Nicolas Cage is a much more grim if
not emotionally troubled figure at the center of the film and does a great job
creating a post shell-shocked soldier with a great sense of duty and a great
need for personal redemption for losses he experiences at the film’s opening.
John Woo even manages to throw in a “Mexican Standoff” scene, which appears
to be a signature the director has in just about every film of his that I’ve
seen. The Director’s Edition
restores about 19 or so minutes into the film with longer battle sequences, but
more importantly more character development scenes as well. Overall I found this
longer version of “Windtalkers” to be more enjoyable and cohesive as a film
than the previous theatrical cut. Owners of the theatrical cut on DVD who
upgrade to the “Director’s Edition” will receive a ten dollar rebate and
there is a special offer for consumers who purchase both “Windtalkers:
Director’s Edition: 3-Disc DVD Collector’s Set” and “Dances With Wolves:
Special Edition” within the packaging. Both DVD titles street on Tuesday, May
20, 2003 from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Home Entertainment’s DVD release of “Windtalkers: Director’s Edition”
features an anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) aspect ratio that preserves the
theatrical presentation as close as possible for home video viewers and the
transfer is terrific with deep reds piercing through the monotone green and tan
color scheme of the film. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is
quite dynamic with a truly explosive surround feel. (No pun intended.) A French
Language Dolby Surround Soundtrack is also provided along with English Captions
and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and French, Spanish and Portuguese
Language Subtitles as options. The extra value features also include optional
French, Spanish, and Portuguese Language Subtitles. There is also an optional
49-second videotaped introduction by Director John Woo that leads into the
feature.
Director
John Woo also participates in feature length audio commentary track with Terence
Chang, which is more retrospective in nature than it is screen specific. What I
liked about the commentary track was that at it addresses exactly which moments
have been changed for this cut of the film and Woo is very generous in praising
all who participated to bring this film to the big screen and has even more
praise for MGM, who supported his wishes to bring this “Director’s Cut” to
DVD. What is a bit strange about the commentary was at first I thought Woo and
Chang recorded the commentary track together because there are times where Chang
asks Woo, “why did you add this scene?” and so on, but then after awhile it
becomes clear that either the commentary was remixed for some reason and thus it
sounds like both men recorded their comments separately or they were really
recorded at different times. Regardless, I actually enjoyed this commentary a
lot more than I was expecting. Actors Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater share
their own feature length audio commentary on the DVD as well as Actor Roger
Willie and Navajo Consultant Albert Smith participate in a third feature length
audio commentary track.
The
(1.85:1) theatrical teaser (1:33) and the (2.35:1) theatrical trailer (2:19) are
also included on the first disc along with bonus MGM DVD trailers for “Die
Another Day: Special Edition” (2:23), “Dances With Wolves: Special
Edition” (1:44), “Hannibal: Special Edition” (2:19), and an “MGM Means
Great Movies” spot (1:14). Cover art for other MGM titles available on DVD
include “Thelma And Louise: Special Edition,” “The Terminator: Special
Edition,” “Rocky: Special Edition,” “The Magnificent Seven: Special
Edition,” “Heart’s War,” “Exodus,”
“A Bridge Too Far,” “The Devil’s Brigade,” “The Great
Escape” and “Platoon: Special Edition among others.
The
second and third discs in the set are both single layered. “The Code Talkers:
A Secret Code Of Honor” (23:13) is a documentary short that focuses on both
the surviving “Code Talkers” as well as the filmmakers and talent behind the
making of the film. “American Heroes: A Tribute To Navajo Code Talkers”
(9:02) is a moving featurette that pays homage to their heroism and important
contribution toward winning the war in the Pacific. “The Music Of Windtalkers”(5:03)
features some videotaped footage of James Horner conducting the musicians for
the film’s score and closes with a soundtrack CD spot.
The
third disc features four “Battle Sequence Multi-View” segments, which allow
the user with the angle button on their remote control to switch between having
either the finished scene in a larger window above videotaped behind-the-scenes
footage and storyboards in separate smaller boxes and toggle between them. The
sequences available for examination include “Saipan Landing” (2:12),
“Barbed Wire” (1:20), “Radio The Coordinates” (1:57), and “Road
Ambush” (1:11).
One
can view the “Fly-On-The-Set Diaries” with or without the finished scene
they pertain to for the “Marine March On Saipan” (8:55), “Bazooka”
(4:34), “Friendly Fire” (6:40), and “Village Ambush” (3:30) sequences. A
look at the training the actors went through to prepare for their roles in the
film is provided in the “Actor’s Bootcamp” featurette (15:06) and there is
a gallery of behind-the-scenes photos as well as some onscreen biographical
notes on Director John Woo that wrap up the extra features included within this
set. The interactive menus are well rendered and easy to navigate. The packaging
has all three discs housed within a Digipack gatefold that comes housed within a
slipcase like the way last year’s “Pearl Harbor: Director’s Cut: Vista
Series” or the complete seasons of “The X-Files” come packaged. The case
opens like a book to reveal the contents, but within the gatefold there is no
notation on the scene selection list that lets the consumers know where new
material has been added or altered. For those not terribly familiar with the
film, it would have been nice to know where the film differed from the
theatrical cut while watching it the first time around. As it is the only way I
was made aware about the scene changes was by listening to the commentary track
with Director John Woo.
That
small complaint aside, MGM has done a terrific job with “Windtalkers:
Director’s Edition: 3-Disc DVD Collector’s Set” and I think the set is
well worth the upgrade for those who admire the film and already own the
theatrical cut DVD and worth checking out if you still have not added this film
to your DVD collection. “Windtalkers: Director’s Edition: 3-Disc DVD
Collector’s Set” will debut on Tuesday, May 20, 2003 from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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Windtalkers (Special Director's Edition)