We Were Soldiers

Rating:
Summary: Splendid movie, probably the best this year
Review: The acting of Mel Gibson is superb, and superb is the epic recreated by We Were Soldiers. It is so intense that for the first time since Saving Private Ryan, I left the room overwhelmed by the silence of the rest of the audience. We all left the theater with our eyes bathed in tears.

This is an American war film. A few times the American flag waves on the screen, and yet We Were Soldiers becomes not a jingoistic solliloquium of how well a few Marines performed on the battle field. This American field shows the tragedy of war from both sides, the American and the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese general, for example, ends up regreting that the Americans have gotten engaged in a battle and suffered so many casualties; he foresees at that point that that war had become American, and that many thousands would have to die before America would finally pull her troops out of Vietnam.

This is a very fine movie depicting the stupidity of war, of dying for one's country. Every time an American dies, or a Vietnamese, or an Afghan, an universe of beauty dies. There is no logic behind it, there is no point to it. A country, if great, would never trade a life for economic might. Please go see this movie; let us stop waving flags and believing that we are better than our neighbours.

Rating:
Summary: BEST WAR MOVIE EVER
Review: This is the best war movie ever.
It had everything EVERY movie should have.
Buy it when it comes out on dvd.

Rating:
Summary: Best Vietnam war movie
Review: This review is for the actual theatrical version since I do not have the dvd yet.

I hate communism as I am sure all of us here in the USA do.
So when I say that I love this movie, please do not take it to mean that I love violence, war, or especially communism!

For understandable reasons, most Vietnamese (especially 40yr + age) will not even give ANY Vietnam war movie a look. My parents and my mother/father-in-laws never gave "We Were Soldiers" a chance simply because they HATE any Vietnam war movies.

The reason I love this movie is because it is definitely "Braveheart" material.
I cared a lot for the characters in this movie. I felt sorry for the people involved. Of course, I hate the communists and their believes and their cruelty to the Vietnamese and to anyone who opposes them. But I felt sorry for the soldiers who had to fight in the war (ANY WAR).

So the mains reason I love this movie include the following:
1) It made me care a lot for the characters. There are funny moments, sad moments, exciting moments. It has good acting and good characterization.
2) It has a lot of action and special effects (good setting.
3) It has a good story (good plot).
4) and the GOOD GUYS won in this movie (good climax and resolution) !!!!!
I will definitely buy this movie when it comes out on dvd.
...

Rating:
Summary: MOVIE WAS GREAT BUT THE BOOK WAS EVEN BETTER.
Review: THE MOVIE WAS VERY VERY GOOD. BUT IN A MOVIE YOU GET THE ABREVIATED VERSION.
BECAUSE THIS FIRE FIGHT REALLY HAPPENED I BELIEVE THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE SHOULD ALSO READ THE BOOK TO UNDERSTAND THE MOVIE TO ITS
FULLEST. THIS ACTION WAS A CRUCIAL POINT IN AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT
IN VIETNAM. IT ALSO DECIDED OUR CONTINUED INVOLVEMENT VIETNAM,WITH THE ITS ESCALATION OF OUR SOLDIERS IN THE WAR.

Rating:
Summary: the best
Review: This movie is just simply the best movie I have seen on Vietnam. As a veteran of that campaign I can guarantee all viewers that it accurately depicts all the conditions that we faced. The battle scenes were so realistic it bought back many bad dreams. The acting was also just great. Mel Gibson was never better, and Sam Elliott was just amazing as usual. A genuine 5 star film which will be eagerly added to my DVD collection when released.

Rating:
Summary: Makes me feel bad for the soldiers on both sides.
Review: "We Were Soldiers" is a realistic movie about Vietnam, from the standpoint of the battlefields and not the political realm. Like his roles in The Patriot and Braveheart, Mel Gibson plays the part of a man with integrity who puts his life on the line to do his job well. His integrity shows through his actions of keeping his promise to be the first to step on the battlefield and the last to step off and also to bring back every American soldier, be he dead or alive.

I say it doesn't delve into the political realm much because it just shows the soldiers (on both sides) as ordinary men with a job to do. They are told to fight for their country, so they do. If the politicians were doing their job right, then the soldiers either wouldn't be necessary or at least their suffering and dying would have been more meaningful. Although once they came back home, the soldiers may have been subject to disrespect or even discrimination from anti-war protesters, they did what they felt it was their duty to do.

The main feeling this movie gave me was of the ultimate pointlessness of war, especially this war. I'm no expert on politics or history, but this movie made me feel that the war was wrong. I witness the bravery, heroicism, time, money, heartbreak, injury, and death that this war consumed and think how much better the world would have been if all this energy and resources had been used on something productive. Managing to win a war is one thing, but managing to prevent the need of a war is something on a much higher level, something mankind has been unable to do throughout history. This movie attempts to show men "fighting for their country" but it really makes me think that it's the opposite they did. I think much of those men and women could have provided more for the country had they stayed ALIVE. After all, fighting a losing battle on communism in a little country half way across the world doesn't sound like something patriotic to me. Again, I'm no expert, and I don't mean any disrespect to Vietnam Vets, but this movie reinforces my opinion that Vietnam was a WASTE. Men who gave their lives in it were manipulated and taken advantage of by the government. One soldier discovered that he was going to be a father in a few months. With this dillema, he goes to [Gibson], who replies that being a soldier helps him be a better father. I find this contradictory. Being dead, as this man soon would be in Vietnam, does not make one a better father. One could make that statement about almost anything (and more truthfully), such as being a marathon runner, or a teacher, or a millionaire, makes one a better father.

Rating:
Summary: We Were Soldiers
Review: This is the best war movie I have seen. It was easy to identify with the soldiers, their families, the enemy and their families. This excellent film helps us to see the Vietnamese as human beings and our soldiers as men of valor and courage. This is the first honest look at the Vietnam War and its impact on the people who fought it.

Thanks to Randall Wallace, Mel Gibson, Sam Elliott and all of the brave men of the Army Calvary who were a part of this battle and film

Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: I laughed, I cried, it moved me. I saw it five times. This is the one you cant miss.

Rating:
Summary: Set The Record Straight!!!
Review: We Were Soldiers is a great movie. Mel Gibson and Sam Elliott were amazing. I especially liked the film because it portrayed the Vietnamese as real people. You get to see the human side of the enemy that I've never seen in a Hollywood film to date. It's worth it to buy this film just to see the dynamic between characters.

Rating:
Summary: The definitive movie on US combat operations in Vietnam
Review: As a two-time veteran of the War in Vietnam, and as a member of the First Cavalry Division during my second tour, "We Were Soldiers" reminded me of how it really was. I was fortunate, as a veteran, to view a pre-release showing.

This is a no-nonsense film. It does not represent the US Army as a bunch of pot-smoking baby-killers, but as SOLDIERS sent on a difficult mission by their country. Aside from the (first half of) "Green Berets", this is the only movie of the conflict which bears any resemblence to reality, and it represents it well.

While I was not involved in this particular action, I have participated in similar operations. As a helicopter pilot during the War, I could actually relive my sensations as the helicopters landed in LZ X-ray taking enemy fire. I could picture the casualties I picked up, and smell the burning flesh. I felt the anxiety of knowing what was facing my crew and I as we made each trip to resupply units and pick up casualties on a "hot" landing zone.

As accurate as the military aspects were, so were the events on the home front regarding the human emotion and family side of the equation. The wives' "chain of concern" aspect of military life was typified when LTC Moore's wife intercepted the casualty telegrams from the taxi drivers to provide a dignified delivery of the bad news. This was, in fact, the situation when we started receiving heavy casualties before the Department of Defense was prepared to deal with it.

One must never lose sight of the fact that this is a true story, and that the authors of the book from which the film was made, General Moore and Joe Galloway, have made a contribution to history as much as any of the seminal works by Bernard Fall relating to Indochina. Anyone who tells me in the future that they got their impressions of Vietnam from "Platoon" or "Apocolypse Now" will sense my disgust as I tell them to leave their world of fantasy, and see "We Were Soldiers" if they want to know about the Vietnam War.

Mel Gibson, extraodinary as ever as LTC Moore, and director Randall Wallace have done an outstanding job in relating this story on film.

I suppose my bottom line is that I understand how a veteran of the Normandy Invasion must have felt during the opening invasion scenes at Omaha Beach in "Saving Private Ryan". It took a lot for me to regain my composure when the lights went on. But also, I felt a pride in having been a part of the Vietnam experience in service to our wonderful country.