As one of the greatest action directors there’s ever been, hopes were understandably high when it was first announced that John Woo would be helming $115 million war epic Windtalkers as his first feature since Mission: Impossible II, the blockbuster that went down as the highest-grossing release of 2000 after hauling in upwards of half a billion dollars at the box office.
There was also the mouthwatering prospect of having him re-team with Face/Off star Nicolas Cage, too, never mind the fascinating subject matter that detailed how the army brought in Navajo recruits to relay messages during World War II that were completely indecipherable to opposing Japanese forces.
While the action sequences are every bit as spectacular and meticulously-executed as you’d expect from the genius behind A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled to name but three, Windtalkers was tragically let down by its many shortcomings in the narrative department.
It didn’t seem as though audiences were interested, either, with the critically-dismissed true-life tale only managing to recoup $77 million of its hefty budget from theaters. However, it became clear a long time ago that explosive epics rooted in real-world conflict are always on the cusp of a streaming comeback, with Windtalkers the latest to prove it all over again.
Per FlixPatrol, the film is currently one of the biggest hits on Prime Video’s global charts more than two decades on from its underwhelming arrival, and it’s worth watching solely for the set pieces alone, if not the narrative.