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We Were Soldiers

We Were Soldiers

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $11.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: There Were Many 'We's' in WE WERE SOLDIERS
Review: WE WERE SOLDIERS is one of the most significant war movies of this or any other era. Director Randall Wallace tells the tale of the Seventh Cavalry (Custer's Cavalry) as it fought a numerically superior North Vietnamese Army in a battle that meant nothing in a tactical sense in the Vietnam of 1964. There are two perspectives. One is from an American colonel played by Mel Gibson while the other is from his adversary, a Vietcong colonel played straight by Don Duong, without the bucktoothed screechiness of a former generation's Asian army commander. Despite the different uniforms and political philosophies of both Duong and Gibson, they are more alike than each would probably care to admit. Both are dedicated and experienced leaders of men and neither is willing to allow personal feelings to get in the way of the killing business that is war.

WE WERE SOLDIERS is seemingly no more than the tale of a regiment of soldiers that covers first their training for battle, then later the battle itself. But as in many war movies, the complexity of the war is only slowly brought into focus. Director Wallace, in addition to showing the Vietnamese side through many vignettes that parallel the strategy sessions of the Americans also shows the wives and families of the soldiers. Madeline Stowe is particularly effective as Gibson's wife who knows only all too well that the fortunes of war are sometimes reduced to the cliche of insensate luck as the determining factor in who comes home in one piece and who does not. It is she who takes on the onerous burden of delivering the telegrams of death to the wives of her husband's soldiers. The large cast includes a sterling performance by Sam Elliot, as an experienced sergeant-major who helps his men retain both life and sanity in the insanity of hand to hand combat.

What emerges as a subtext is the unsettling notion that in combat the enemy often differs more from us by the color of uniform worn than by anything else. The extremely realistic scenes of bodies being ripped to pieces make the viewer care that some soldiers are being killed by some other soldiers, while not particularly caring about the colors of their uniforms. The 'We' of WE WERE SOLDIERS is a sobering reminder that we should be glad that killing is so horrible, else we might grow overly fond of it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: WOW get its the real deal!
Review: I was in Korea in the war and this was so incredibly similar it was amazing. Hal Moore was a Colonel in the USArmy, Fist cav, and their story is an actual one. The uniforms and the tactics are just like it was in Nam. But Joe Galloway one of the cowriters of the book he doesn't look like the guy here in the movie. That was the guy who was the sniper in Saving Private Ryan if you remembr him. Good actor but TOO young for this part . I always end my reviews with a warning: DVD codes ARE sometmes different so BE sure you are OK. Once I goy three DVDs when I was on a 10day tour in Germany and all of them din't work. I am Harold McInnes.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Horrible mess by Mel
Review: Has mr. Gibson got totally grandeur? This film is so bad as it could possibally be! Mel should be nominated to the Razzie award!
It's very unpleasant to see him with those other young, welltrained bodies, and you can even see the sucking spirit in his eyes!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superb movie, really outstanding
Review: A big thank you to Mel Gibson and team for this movie is really good !! I enjoyed it from start to finish. It is full of action, the scenario is good, the pace is perfect, the characters are great and sincere, the dialogues excellent, and also there is a permanent good humor. So everything is good in this war movie. Mel Gibson even managed to make me laugh on several occasions, and it's the first time I ever laughed during a war movie...
The whole movie is highly entertaining, and that's definitely the best war movie I've ever watched.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Like pulling teeth - read the book
Review: This movie butchers an incredible book.

If you (a) think Mel Mel Gibson is a good actor; (b) didn't graduate from middle school; (c) are a racist who finds it possible to believe that the Viet Cong & North Vietnamese fought the war solely by screaming at the top of their lungs and charging like Civil War cavalry; and (d) enjoy cheesy, predictable Hollywood [junk], this movie is for you.

If you answered no to all of the above, read the book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Perfectly captured small moments.
Review: This is one occasion, where your initial experience is expanded and improved by a simple little behind-the-scenes info. I saw the movie, and though it was a well-done, but standard war flick.
Then I saw the short featurette, and replayed the movie in my head.
The "you are there" quality of the gunplay attracts the most attention, but the little moments, like the taxi delivering the telegrams, are the ones that'll haunt you.
The cast is as good as you'd expect, but again, this movie is made in the details, not in the plot or the dialogue. In that respect, it's made exceedingly well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great epic
Review: A must have for movie fans, this movie portraits with crude realism the horrors of war, the heroic spirit within us and the internal fears that any soldier can experience.
I liked a lot the director's management about the two commanders one leading the action iat the battelfield (Hal Moore), and the other form downunder, facing strategic and tactic problems and the human touch, everything together made a great war movie, in a class by itself.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A must have war movie
Review: The best depiction of war I have seen since Saving Private Ryan. A must have for all historian and war buffs.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Pointless War Movie...
Review: pointless war plot, and pointless war characters. That's what this .... movie is all about. Mel Gibson has been made famous for battling against the British(Patriot, Braveheart, etc.)and now he has moved onto the Vietnamese.

The Battle Scenes: The battle scenes are some of the worst ever filmed. Vietnamese soldiers just jump into open firing range and fall over fakely. It seems like the Vietnamese are on a suicide rage than fighting. And there's way too much of this throughout the entire feature. And one Vietnamese soldier just runs strait at the Americans until Mel blows his head off. The Vietnamese are actually smarter than what you see onscreen.

The "Family" Scenes: Of all the bad scenes in this film I have to say these are the worst of them all. All the wives are there, one has a baby, the father of course dies along with others, and all of this results in a sappy crying fit. The other scenes contain 2 women walking around handing out letters to other wives about their fallen husbands all with the same predictable results.

That's all I have to say. Don't buy, rent, burrow or watch this movie. It's a complete waste of time. Watch a good war movie like Saving Private Ryan, Windtalkers, Platoon, or Apocalypse Now. If you must see a Gibson movie watch Braveheart or Patriot. At least those have a decent storyline.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Buy it, keep it, watch it.
Review: Next time you want to be critical of our armed forces, watch this movie before you open your mouth. I believe everyone should have a copy at home.

Soldiers do what they are ordered to do. Don't blame them. A soldier's duty is unique and only in combat it becomes historical reality. This movie is about love, not hatred.

The greatness of Lt. Colonel Moore lies in his willinhness to respect, see and talk to his oponent, Lt. Colonel Nguyen Huu An. They got together years later, not as enemies, but as old former combatants. There was greatness on both sides.

A true epic of the first rank.


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