STRIKING A BLOW JOHN WOO'S OVER-THE-TOP STYLE IS GONE WITH 'WINDTALKERS'.

Byline: - Glenn Whipp

Hong Kong director John Woo (``Face/Off,'' ``The Killer'') knows as well as any of his hard-core fans that he has a very definite style, a style that involves highly choreographed violence, operatic emotions and spectacle and that somehow transforms brutal violence into a thing of beauty.

It's a style that made him the wrong person to direct ``Windtalkers,'' a World War II story of friendship between a Navajo ``code talker'' (Adam Beach) and the Marine (Nicolas Cage) assigned to protect him - or kill him should he fall into the hands of the enemy.

``I knew I had to change a lot of what I do to make this movie,'' Woo says. ``I needed to make it more convincing and real and tell the story honestly. It's based on a true event and I had to take that seriously.''

Woo says the movie is his tribute to director John Ford and, as such, he eliminated what he calls ``stylish technique'' and focused on the friendship between the two lead characters. That doesn't mean Woo has gone soft. ``Windtalkers'' features several epic combat sequences with thousands of extras and there's enough blood and guts spilled on the battlegrounds to make film buffs think of Peckinpah instead of Ford.

The $100 million-plus movie was slated for release last November, but MGM, a small studio with much riding on the film, moved it, fearing how audiences might respond after the September terrorist attacks. Woo believes now is a good time for the film, even if it is third in line behind the war movies ``Black Hawk Down'' and ``We Were Soldiers.''

``The movie is so patriotic and emotional; audiences will have a different feeling about the film now. They will feel the humanity more strongly.''

Woo's next movie, ``Men of Destiny,'' is even more of a departure: It's a period film about the Chinese and Irish building the railroad in the 19th century. Chow Yun-Fat, who starred in some of Woo's Hong Kong classics, will star.

``It's not action-packed,'' the 56-year-old director admits. ``And that's OK. People are just going to have to get used to it. I'm trying different things.''

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Nicolas Cage, left, raps with Adam Beach in ``Windtalkers,'' June 14.