Rating: 
Summary: See it.
Review: It was gory. It was hard to watch, but I got very involved with the wives left behind -- been there, done that. Eye opening, and made the divorce statistics for men who served in the wars from WWII on easy to understand -- the amazing part is that any of them stayed together. With the international complexities today, I think this movie and others like it are important -- and every politician should watch them.
Rating: 
Summary: Mel Gibson WISHES He'd Been A Soldier
Review: This film is very clumsily made, though not as much so as the atrocious "Windtalkers. It's interesting to see how a film can so successfully avoid any political or historical significance, and yet be almost entirely non-fictional. To lift the Vietnam War, and the battle in the Ia Drang valley, entirely out of historical context in order to create a film that indulges an extended father/soldier fantasy, is quite an accomplishment.
I'm sure the real Hal Moore was quite a commander. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. But there's something really weird about the idea that a Lt. Colonel is in the best position to tell the story of the men who died under him. This would have been a far more interesting and valuable film if it had been entirely a film about Hal Moore or about the battle itself. Instead, it simply tried to be all three (actually all four because it was also about the wives at home-a topic that certainly deserves its own film) and only really succeeds in being a film about Mel Gibson acting like a soldier.
The problem of failing to tell the story of the battle becomes obvious at the end, with an out-of-the-blue retaliation of what we have been led to believe should be a crushing ambush. As a soldier, I could fill in the blanks, but my girlfriend was at a complete loss.
This stinker gets two stars only because of the outstanding performance of Sam Elliot as Sergeant Major Plumley. He was entirely believable and a guilty pleasure to watch. Old-Army SGM's like that are becoming increasingly rare, and may soon go the way of the dinosaur-nowhere on earth, but all over the screen.
Rating:
Summary: a soldier's review
Review: this movie is one of the best i have seen, followed the book for the most part. i am a soldier, so i can relate to this movie and others like blackhawk down, at any given time that could be one of us. i enjoyed this movie and i would suggest to it anyone who wants to watch a perfect war movie with a great story line.
Rating: 
Summary: At least the action was good....
Review: I, being a major fan of war movies and knowing some stuff on radio dialogue during combat, was majorly diappointed with the depth and research the producing team did on what kinda things are being said when a battalion finds itself outnumbered, with a platoon cut off. Furthermore I didn't like the thirteen in a dozen patriotic feel the movie has.....
On the other hand Mel Gibson (besides the things mentioned earlier) puts down a decent performance, as do the other actors. The action (special effects) were preety good too, althought I again didn't like the fact that the vietcong and NVA soldiers were presented as gun-fodder....
Overall an enjoyable film with a few flaws which, if ur looking for an ok, action-packed movie, will definately satisfy.
Rating:
Summary: I Remember!
Review: I remember so well the draft. I remember so well the letters home. I remember so well the young men coming home: some whole, some in pieces, and some to be buried. In the beginning no one knew what to expect over in Nam. But what we did have was our belief in what was right. This movie brings back all of that. It gives back to all the soldiers who were there a good reputation that some have tried so hard to take away.
I remember the young faces of the soldiers in the hospital confused and wondering why, this story may to some seem smarmy...but it isn't. The movie shows courage, strength, fearlessness, under great duress, in situations where no one knew what to expect.
At one point the brass wanted to pull out the Officers and leave the soldiers, but the Officers stayed. The movie showed our soldier in situations where they were over run, but somehow they found a way.
Does this seem "smarmy?" It isn't...this is our history...when we get in a tough situation, we find a way to press through. And that is what our guys did over in Nam. Some may not have liked it. But you were not there...our guys were. This movie is one of the best I've seen in a long time that focuses on the character of our soldiers. It is a must see.
Rating:
Summary: True view.
Review: This is a significant view of being a soldier. It is war, and many events happen in the heat of battle and survival that change a man.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but hard on the senses.
Review: It's hard to rate this movie because it was filled with bloody deaths, but the acting and story are moving. Thank God my husband was never in Viet Nam.
Rating:
Summary: What is the value of a life?
Review: This movie I feel will go down in history as a classic.It is hard to describe in words how this movie makes you look at the war and what Col. Moore went through.I think the best point in this movie is the accuracy to historic events as well as the directors ability to keep the movie rolling and active(which is really hard for a true events story).
However,the great purpose I feel this movie served is that it looks at both sides of a battle.It does not show Americans walking through the Ia drang valley like superheroes and plowing down the enemy.In fact it shows men struggling for eachother,and that true victory in a war comes by surviving,not by who wins the war.I think it is important that it shows the Vietnamise as every bit of people as we are.The Vietnamise who died during this war were not all evil.They were not horrific people who were trying to destroy anything.Most of them were guys just like our American troops,who were there because of orders,and really just wanted to go home.What is the value of this movie?short and simple.That war knows no friend,and anything living is the enemy.and the guys we fought werent evil or ignorant.They were just people answering the call of their country and dying out of service.I think that can be attributed in any war.
A not that another viewer left.He stated that people were in the vietnam war by choice so they werent really fighting for anything.I disagree.I remember this thing called a draft which stripped your choices.You went to war or jail.I wish you would look at history before I landblast what our troops did mr.Chiddles.
Rating:
Summary: Here Comes the Cavalry
Review: From the opening drum-roll music, we can tell that this is going to be a good-old John Wayne war film.
From the first minute we are in no doubt whatsoever that Mel Gibson is going to kick some serious ... over in 'Nam. While all around his soldiers get bla sted into oblivion, Mel and his trusty, battle-hardened, wise-cracking lieutenant survive and win in the face of overwhelming odds (not in the air, of course, where US planes barbeque both enemy and friendly infantry with napalm).
Mel Gibson gives a workm anlike performance as Colonel Hal Moore, the other actors (including helicopter pilot Greg Kinnear and war-widows' heroine matriarch, Madeleine Stowe) do what is expected of them.
We Were Soldiers is much less arty than Thin Red Line, for example, or Apocalypse Now. The focus here is on group heroics rather than individual struggle. It is a primarily a tribute to the resilience of the helicopter-borne US 7th cavalry division which was the first American unit to engage the Viet Cong and the wives who wait at home dreading the official telegram. This is a patriotic war film in the tradition of Black Hawk Down. Do not, therefore, expect Oscar-winning performances, painstaking character studies or high drama. This is, in fact, a patriotic, semi-propaganda war movie with the semblance of a liberal conscience - the Viet Cong soldiers are portrayed as humans with real feelings, etc. The battle scenes are well done, however, and it is at the height of the fighting that We Were Soldiers shows some sort of cinematic quality. As soon as he guns fall silent, however, the movie lurches back into a parade of clichéd phrases and comic-book dialogue. Kid's stuff, really, although the gruesome detail makes this fairly unsuitable viewing for the youngsters..
Rating:
Summary: Powerful dicpiction of a battle..they were solders.
Review: Real account of someone who actually was there to show it like it is. Watch the movie, then read the book. You will enjoy both. Mel Gibson words 'I shall not leave anyone behind' is so powerful and then he kept his word. I like to see patton say that. Anyways, this movie shows the family as well as those who fought so far away. Who wants to send death notices to their wives? No one but it needs to be done and this movie shows the emotions that go thru their heart of hearts. Were they prepare for whats to come? No but they are men and knows how to fight with honor and fought as solders, not cowards. I recommend this movie highly althought one viewing is enough for me to last a lifetime. I cried at the end and i don't want to go thru it again....even more tearjerking then 'Saving Private Ryan' and i cried at the end of that one too.
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