Leofwine_draca A solid and highly impressive war movie, one of the latest to follow in the wake of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and one which is no less moving and powerful. This time around the setting is Vietnam at the beginning of the war in 1965, but the setting and the enemy is not really important. Instead this film focuses on the humanity of the American soldiers involved and the way they must band together in order to survive, employing the now clichéd "leave no man behind" type morale to lead them through it. The film is utterly entertaining due to the tons of action and fighting that it offers and only now, with the modern advent of digital effects, can cinema deliver incredible scenes of action and violence in a realistic manner (check out the napalm bombing, where CGI planes fly past overheard and they look just like the real thing).Mel Gibson is a good choice as the lead, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, and even if the film hadn't been as good it still could have been carried by Gibson alone, who adopts the persona as his own and puts in an assured, likable, human but tough performance. Gibson's becoming a real pro at portraying military leaders these days and his performance here is no exception, one of the finest I've seen from the man. Similarly there are also some great supporting roles from Greg Kinnear (underused as a helicopter pilot sickened by the death toll) and Sam Elliott as a tough but worthy sergeant. Also worth watching for is Barry Pepper as an American reporter, forced to take up arms and fight for his life when the battle closes in around him.The film is strong on sentimentality and very moving in parts, especially the scenes where the wives back home decide to deliver the death letters themselves. Although sentimental it never gets overdone or mawkish like in a Spielberg movie, never uncomfortable. The action sequences are excellent and the movie has one of the best soundtracks I've heard. In the documentary on the DVD it says that over ten thousand bullet shots are heard in the movie and they come at you constantly from all directions, really putting you into the middle of the battle like BLACK HAWK DOWN did.The film is also pretty gory with one or two scenes of ultra-horror, such as the Chinese soldier who gets his body destroyed with napalm but still carries on surviving. Special effects, both computer and makeup, are outstanding and the music is more than appropriate, especially a Scottish ballad that they play which is pretty moving. I also liked the fact that we saw from the point of view of the Vietcong, albeit briefly; this humanises an enemy so often portrayed as simply demonic and evil and gives the film an extra level. WE WERE SOLDIERS is a prime-time piece of entertainment and one of the best films of the year.

atnair Wonder how the movie got a 7+ star rating. Too dragging in the beginning and towards the end. It takes a lot of time in the beginning to show the family of all soldiers, which is good but taking too much time to deliver the dialogues. It is not that great war movie which a viewer may expect like Saving the private Ryan and all. The plot is Vietnam war, the war which is unnecessarily fought by the US killing a lot of Vietnam people.The movie is like justifying these act. While watching it as a neutral viewer I wondered what is the entire point of glorifying the war and what is the interest of the US in the war. As per the spoilers, I thought the movie will show the perception of war from both sides, but it rarely does that other than two or three scenes in total.

slightlymad22 We Were Soldiers (2002)Plot In A Paragraph: Focusing on the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14, 1965. It is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L. Galloway, both of whom were at the battle.This is quite simply one of my favourite war movies, Gibson's performance is the core of the movie, and is one of his best performances. I love his reaction to a certain characters death, almost no words except "He died keeping my promise" and pure raw emotion. Chris Klein gives the performance of his career, Sam Elliot is his usual brilliant self, uttering fine great dialogue, whilst Madeline Stowe, Greg Kinnear Barry Pepper and Kerri Russell all of stellar support. There are some strong female performances featured here, not commonly found in a war movie!! This is brilliantly shot, directed and scored. It does have a few cliché moments, but it's hard to criticise a movie for something so little, when it gets so much right. For some reason, audiences didn't flock to this one, it only grossed $78 million at the domestic box office, to end 2002 as the 34th highest grossing movie of the year. Which for a Gibson led movie, was pretty low for the time. Gibson is truly a great actor, and hopefully he can sort his personal problems and demons out, because as we all know Hollywood loves comebacks.

Jonathan C There are many people writing reviews who are willing to make claims that this movie is "realistic" or "hogwash" or whatever. As someone who did not fight in the Ia Drang Valley, my first question would be-- how would you know? I will say this movie seemed pretty realistic to me, and Hal Moore and Joe Galloway, the writers of the book and participants in the battle seemed satisfied with it, so I bet you it is pretty real. And already, this is a big plus for this movie.What I think might be off-putting to some people is that fact that the movie has some big stars--Mel Gibson, Sam Elliot, Greg Kinnear-- that we have seen a million times before. If the actors had been anonymous, I suspect that the movie would have seemed more "realistic." Gibson in fact does his Georgia drawl pretty well, but loses it every so often in one of his "Braveheart" moments of pathos.Similarly, the musical score has a Scottish lament that seems bizarre for this movie. Are we still doing "Braveheart"?On the upside however, we get corroboration from the participants that the war scenes are pretty real, and they are BRILLIANTLY choreographed. Ever since Saving Private Ryan, these movies have gotten A LOT more graphic. We Were Soldiers has some utterly gruesome scenes in it that are probably quite true to life. Again, this is a big plus, since we don't want to remember the fighting as anything but something very ugly.Also, unlike some other Vietnam films, there are some believable moments involving two parties not often heard from: the soldiers' wives and the enemy. Hal Moore's wife delivers death telegrams to the other vets' wives so that they don't have to receive them from the Yellow Cab company. I have no doubt that this was true, and the scenes are NOT melodramatic, they are heartbreaking.Similarly, one of the best characters of the movie is General An of the NVA. He is again terrifically believable as the sanguine commander of the enemy forces, and we see him as a clever, thoughtful and even compassionate commander heartbroken about the state of his country but willing to do what it takes to defend it. The mental duel that he has with Colonel Moore (Mel Gibson) also provides a terrific subplot.On balance, this movie is really worth it. In making a Vietnam movie that really tries to tell the story realistically, we get an excellent tribute not just to the US Vets, but also to everyone affected, even the Vietnamese foe. It is a tough movie to watch, but it is also perhaps the healthiest response to Vietnam that I have ever seen.