We Were Soldiers

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This movie is great. Ltc. Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) is put incharged of the 7th calvery for an evasion in N. Veatnam. The movie shows the difficulty of being a leader and also the hardships the millitary wives. Overal, this is a wonderfull movie.

Rating:
Summary: True to events.
Review: War is comprised of battles in which people live or die, are brave or too frightened to act, give or take.

The battlefield in We Were Soldiers is realistic. There is confusion -- troops run toward an enemy when they should stop and think in the very literal heat of battle. The depth of this story is in revealing the fellowship between warriors -- ultimately a soldier fights for his men.

Viet Nam was an unpopular war, but the men and women who fought, lost their innocence, gave all they could, are the heroes. They deserve honor -- political issues do not enter the chain of command, but the knowledge of those in the war zones must be heard.

This is an excellent movie. Lt. Col. Hal Moore (played by Mel Gibson) is in conflict with himself, but he follows orders.

Rating:
Summary: --Compelling--
Review: I've never been a soldier or visited Vietnam, but I had the feeling when I watched this movie that this is probably what it was like for our soldiers.

The film begins in 1965 when Lt. Colonel Hal Moore, of the U. S. Air Calvary is sent to Vietnam with his 400 newly trained soldiers. They're landed by helicopters right in the middle of a firefight and the men jump out of the helicopters immediately having to defend their lives. Their opponents are 2000 experienced North Vietnamese troops. This story was very painful to watch. The Americans were virtually surrounded and facing an enemy who were seasoned and knew the terrain. There's realism about this film that makes the viewer see the true brutality of the battlefield.

Mel Gibson in the role of Moore did an excellent job of portraying a man who cared about his soldiers and wasn't too mucho to let them know. Greg Kinnear in the part of a helicopter pilot and Sam Elliot as a tough career sergeant major were both terrific in their roles. The wives and children who were waiting back home where also shown which was a touching way to point out the humanity and real lives of the soldiers.

This is the most compelling and realistic war story that I've ever seen.nd it comes across strong.

Unfortunately, this film was a little sloppy at times. It gave little explanation to set up the battle, and once it got going, for about twenty minutes it just showed fighting. Fortunately, it soon began showing intelligence from both armies, discussing the situation, and that helped tighten the story.

Also, the film opened and ended with a narration from a photographer on hand at the battle, which sounded stale, like a hundred other narrations that have been done before. I could have done without that. There were also a few scenes which I felt weren't very authentic, such as a storm of reporters questioning the men on the battlefield moments after the battle finished.

But despite these problems, the film gave a decent portrayal of the beginning of the Vietnam War and the importance of being a good soldier.

Rating:
Summary: The movie is meaningful
Review: The movie takes you in the middle of war. You will lose your life within seconds without any warning. The bullets just go from all direction, you cannot avoid, you can survive, just because you are lucky than others. It is full of violence and blood.

If you like modern war movie, you will like it.

This is a good movie, I recommend it to every adult.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie...
Review: I didn't like this movie on my first viewing. I was pretty depressed at the end of it because I was thinking of these motivated soldiers that were being screwed by the politicians from the beginning. Then I went to see it with my mom and I saw it in a different light. It is not your typical Vietnam War movie. The soldiers are actually motivated. The officers are not portrayed as glory seeking medal hunters (except for one). The soldiers aren't high on dope. The Vietnamese actually were portrayed as humans. All in all, a very well done movie.

Rating:
Summary: Finally¿
Review: After all those terrible years of "Deer Hunterish" drivel and "Apocalyptic" nonsense, Hollywood has finally, if (probably) temporarily, acceded to that fact that there is nothing glorious in the lot of the soldier other than the fraternity and special respect of a fellow soldier. With almost no nod to the steaming domestic politics of the 1960s other than those that directly affect the soldiers and their families (or any contemporary politics either - how refreshing), "We Were Soldiers" does a pretty fair and honest job of exposing both the rubies and the warts of a combat soldier's life. Thankfully, most of the gratuitous machoisms that the entertainment industry finds so entertaining in war flicks are absent.

The 1st Cav (the unit that is the subject of "We Were Soldiers") was the cutting edge of air-mobility for most of the Vietnam conflict - and, having served with the Gerry Owen bunch, they never seemed to loose their special can-do spirit. Much of what was learned about combat assaults, extractions, coordination of multiple levels of tac-air, aerial rocket artillery, hunter-killer teams and highly mobile ground based artillery, was pioneered in real-time by the Cav and quickly shared with the Infantry divisions who deployed to SE Asia in the next year or two. "We Were Solders" does a pretty good job of outlining the metamorphosis of 11th Air Assault at Fort Benning, Georgia into the 1st Cav, and it's subsequent deployment into Vietnam as America ramped up its ground efforts beyond the badly stretched Green Berets, and other military advisors. (BTW: The area, Kelly Hill, at Ft. Benning where the real 11th Air Assault was formed, was also the same area where much of John Wayne's "Green Beret" was filmed).

Special kudos also to "We Were Soldiers" for doing a pretty fair job of showing the sometimes harsh realities of the life of the military family (the rather sterile "Top Gun" is the only other recent film I can think of that has taken the time to try to explore the often forgotten heroes back home...). The military family, regardless of the rank of the soldier, seldom enjoys the predictable, geographically stable character of their civilian counter-parts. I remember those years well, and "We Were Soldiers" does a pretty good job of showing why military families get to know the local U-Haul dealer so well. More telling, of course, is the burdens, frustrations and pure fright that come with having a loved-one deployed. Those families didn't carry protest signs during the 60's, instead they carried letters to the mailbox - some will never know what a large part they played in keeping "their" soldier going.

Very good flick - gives a deeply personal, fairly genuine and somewhat painful look at the life of the American soldier.

Rating:
Summary: Shocking news concerning actor of "We Were Soldiers"
Review: I just came across this Reuters 11/11/02 news story concerning "We Were Soldiers" and "Green Dragon" and was shocked by what's happening to one of the actors. Thought I would share it with all viewers out there, whether you have watched or intend to watch those two films.

"A Vietnamese actor branded a traitor by the Hanoi government and placed under virtual house arrest for appearing in an American-made Vietnam War film has broken his silence to call the charges against him "ridiculous" and "cruel."

"Don Duong, who played a Vietnamese officer opposite Mel Gibson in "We Were Soldiers," and a refugee in the 2001 film "Green Dragon" opposite Patrick Swayze, defended his work in a letter released this week by family members in California. Duong's relatives have said the 45-year-old actor has been placed under house arrest and restricted from traveling and could face jail time. "We Were Soldiers" depicts the battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam's Central Highlands in 1965, in which men from the 7th Air Cavalry led by Lt. Col. Hal Moore, played by Gibson, overcame a more experienced and much larger North Vietnamese force."

"Gibson and others in Hollywood, including Duong's "Green Dragon" co-stars Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker, actor Harvey Keitel and "Soldiers" director Randall Wallace, have called for leniency in his case."

Rating:
Summary: "I will not leave the battle. I will not leave my men."
Review: The power of good acting is real characters, and this film is reality. The expressions of excited young men going off to war, is stunningly altered into those bearing great shock, sorrow, and death. The women they left at home portray the qualities of 1965 ladies supportive of their husbands, no matter what.

Madeline Stowe, as Lt. Col. Hal Moore's wife, unites the wives left behind on the base. When the Army is unprepared to hand deliver telegrams informing the family that their soldier died, she takes over the task from the cab company that had been hired to do so. Each telegram is poignant, and I was reminded that every soldier, nurse, doctor, civilian, everyone has a story.

This one is about the American men who fought the first battle for God and country in Vietnam. The film begins with a disclaimer that it is not a reflection of personal or political ideologies. To me, that statement generally means the studio must distance itself to avoid potential ramifications about an unpopular war. Also, that I am about to see more truth than fiction, more questions than answers.

We Were Soldiers is intense, and I could only watch it in short segments. I needed time to think, to understand, and to witness the horror of battle. It is vivid -- when bullets hit bodies, blood spews from the wounds. Friendly fire kills, and is only called friendly because the man behind the bullet or bomb is in the same army. Napalm burns whomever is in the path, and flesh is charred to the bone. These are graphically displayed, and accounts for the "R" rating at the box office.

The reality, especially looking backwards at history and knowing these men and women came home without a hero's welcome, stirs me deeply. Honor and integrity are shown along with "battle scenes once seen that can never be forgotten" in words such as "I will be the first one on the field and the last one to leave, and I will leave no man behind."

Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) said he would never forgive himself because his men died and he did not in the La Drang Valley (the Valley of Death). It is clear that in the end, soldiers fought to save each other as they obeyed orders.

We Were Soldiers, The Thin Red Line, Saving Private Ryan, Behind Enemy Lines, Blackhawk Down, Flight of the Intruder, Platoon, and so many others are very important films; they are about historical events. To me, the message about warriors is that on the field there are never winners, only survivors.

Five Stars.

Victoria Tarrani

Rating:
Summary: This movie made me feel what those men went through!
Review: Wow! this is a good movie, especially if you like true stories. If your like a movie with a good story, then you should see this movie. This is one of those movies that made me cry and laugh at the same time (more crying than laughing) I watched it 2 times so far, the first time I saw it I missed some important things and thought it could have been better, but the 2nd time i realized that i had just seen a really great movie, twice. The first time I saw this movie I thought there were too many battle scenes, but the 2nd time I watched it, I realized that these were real caricters.......this was a true story......these men really "were soldiers" and the long battle scenes made me feel these peoples pain. Mel Gibson played a part that made me admire and respect him, and made me want a leader just like him if I were in battle. The "behind the scenes" special feature lets us meet the real caricters and see how close the actors came to portraying these real carciters. These soldiers went to battle because their country told them too and while there they survived by helping and fighting for each other, they looked after each othrt because each other was all they had.

Rating:
Summary: Read the book and then watch this DVD
Review: I was too old for this war but have younger friends that served. They recommended the book to me. I found it an very moving detailed account of the type of thing that my friends told me about. I would recommend the book to anyone.

Then I had the opportunity to see this DVD. While it was not completely true to the book, it is just as moving and more gut wrenching. My wife who does not like this type of movie was consumed and sickened by what happened to our soilders.

The movie allows you get a very good idea of what the battle was like and allows you bring the horror of war move clearly into your heart. If you can read the book first.