Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent War Movie
Review: I haven't read the book that this movie is based on, so unlike reviewer Russell Ross, I have nothing to compare it to.... Judged on it's own, We Were Soldiers is a tremendous movie, telling the story of 400 Air Cavalry Soldiers who spent three days waging a horrific battle with over 4,000 Vietnamese Soldiers. The courage and heart that our Soldiers displayed is wonderfully portrayed, and Mel Gibson does his usual great job as their Commanding Officer. (Sam Elliott is also great as his second-in-command...) We also get to see another, seldom-seen side of the Vietnam War- The Home Front, where wives and families lived in fear of a telegram from The Army... The movie's violence is VERY graphic, but war is hell, so.... We Were Soldiers gives us another view of America's most unpopular War, and in this time of increased patriotism, it's a welcome view at that. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best...
Review: ... This was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Bar none. It is hard for some to understand duty and honor. Movies like this show what most men were made of in the past,....and what a few still are made of.
Rating:
Summary: They Got This One Right
Review: I saw the film on its general release day with about 20 other people in the theater, mostly older people who probably were Vietnam vets or families. I was glad for that privacy, as I'm sure they were. This realistic and well-done film brought clenched fists, tears and gut-stabbing memories back to most of us there, male and female alike. I recommend it highly to people who want to understand this war and its participants in a way that does them justice. As gory as it is -- and I recommend it only to viewers old enough to understand why it is so -- "We Were Soldiers" finally gets the early Vietnam experience right. It does so without the existential pschyo-drama and anti-war posturing that most previous films of the genre have had, making soldiers into dopers, fiends and charicatures. It honors the well-intentioned and patriotic men who went to do an unpleasant but necessary job, but who wound up struggling to save themselves and each other in a battle and a war that shouldn't have been fought. It also honors the women and families at home who waited for them, sometimes in vain and without proper assistance or support. It also portrays the Vietnamese combatant fairly; instead of being a bloodless monster, he also had a country, a job to do, and a family that he loved too. The producer, director-writer and actors have all done an excellent job in bringing the real story of Vietnam to the screen. I have two suggestions for potential movie goers. One: If you are Vietnam era vet, consider seeing the film by yourself or with another vet buddy first before taking family and other friends with you. It will get to you, and it may be hard for you to keep your composure. A previous look will help you and them discuss it, and perhaps your own experience, with greater ease and understanding afterwards. Two: The theater release battle dialogue is almost inaudible against the background sound track. That is a reality in actual combat, but in a film with non-military viewers it makes the officers' stategies difficult to understand and the action hard to follow. Until the producers can correct this in future prints, I suggest reading the book before seeing the film so the flow of the battle makes more sense to you. Go see "We Were Soldiers". They got this one right.
Rating:
Summary: Must see, don't bring young children
Review: My husband and I don't go to see movies often but felt the pull of this subject. We don't have many heros from the Vietnam War. Hopefully, this movie will help get the respect that the military always deserves when they perform their duty, even when it is not for a popular cause. The performances were excellent, the story was very moving. The sound track can send chills down your spine it was so well done. Don't go and expect entertainment, but do expect to be overwhelmed.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Black Hawk Down
Review: "We Were Soldiers" is better than "Black Hawk Down" mainly because the characters were more fully developed and we actually care about what happened to them. The combat scenes were as intense but I felt more engaged by the unfolding tragedy. BHD is also a great war movie, but it seemed to rely on more special effects to create it's impact. There is a review here that picks the movie apart, but I don't believe anyone will care about the small points the author is trying to make. Who really cares if Col. Moore invented the tactics? And it's always easy to criticize, after the fact, the tactics that were used in the battle. It was a new type of warfare, and it was the first time those tactics were used to that extent. What also made this an enjoyable movie is that it wasn't made from an ugly American type viewpoint. The film makers actually believe there is something good and decent about America, and that shined through in the movie. After what happened to this country on Sept. 11, we certainly needed it.
Rating:
Summary: MEL IS THE BEST
Review: we were soldiers is the beest film ever made wow god bless
Rating:
Summary: An assault on the senses that pulls at the heartstrings.
Review: "Those of us who have seen war keep seeing it. In the silence of the night, we still hear the screams." War is hell, and "We Were Soldiers" spends its entire relaying this brutal truth in a story that overflows with patriotic zeal, a convincing sense of chaos, and a harsh depiction of the physical reality of combat conditions. Like Ridley's Scott's "Black Hawk Down," released in the holiday stretch of 2001, writer/director Randall Wallace, in his directorial debut, is careful to remind us of the emotional impact of war rather than sacrificing it for effects and thrills. It seems that Wallace has learned from previous misfires: the story, adapted from the novel by Lt. Col. Harold Moore and reporter Joseph Galloway, is everything that Wallace's previous script, "Pearl Harbor," was not. Beginning with the introductions to military life as seen through the eyes of various soldiers and officers, we are given a unique opportunity to become involved in their family lives, bearing witness to happier times before President Johnson orders reinforcements into Vietnam. Mel Gibson is cast as Harold Moore, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, arriving on base with his wife, Julie (Madeleine Stowe), and five young children. Among those singled out by the story to provide emotional connections are young Lt. Jack Geoghegan (Chris Klein) and his expecting wife, Barbara (Keri Russell), Maj. Bruce 'Snakeshit' Crandall (Greg Kinnear), who shows a great deal of devotion to duty, and Sgt-Maj. Basil Plumley (Sam Elliott), who exacts a brutish demeanor as a result of decades of wartime experience. After a montage of tearful goodbyes that pull at the heartstrings with all their might, Wallace's film nosedives into the hellish combat of the Battle of Ia Drang, as Moore's soldiers are choppered in under heavy fire from the soldiers of the Viet Cong. After splitting into divisions, several men are surrounded, many of whom are seriously wounded, leading Moore to regroup and make attempts to rescue his entrapped soldiers, all the while battling forces surrounding his own. These brilliantly photographed and acted scenes of battle are some of cinema's most memorable, charged with physical intensity that practically jolts the audience with each explosion and gunshot. Wallace brings the viewer into the experience rather than making him a sideline witness to it, wrapping us in a continuous onslaught of sensory perception, from startling images of bloodshed and mangled bodies, to the non-stop firing of machine guns and heavy artillery. Accompanying such moments are a constant reminder of the emotional loss and grievances one goes through in times of war. We see young reporter Joe Galloway (Barry Pepper) befriending a Japanese-American soldier in the middle of combat; ten minutes later, he's rushing towards a rescue chopper, his bloodied friend hanging loose in his arms. We see the tear-strained faces of wives informed of their lost husbands. We see these soldiers, once young, their innocence stripped from them as they stare into the eyes of the enemy, and instantly, the emotional magnitude of such an event becomes a stark reality. But through it all, we see something richer, something well-defined, something forgotten in much of the modern war drivel that has graced the silver screen in years past. "We Were Soldiers" not only packs a physical and emotional punch, but brings to light an overwhelming aura of patriotism that is evident in the heroic acts of its characters, a sense of duty and devotion that makes the movie's dialogue ring true in every way, shape and form. In playing Harold Moore, Mel Gibson recalls the glory and presence of his performance in "Braveheart;" his ability to juxtapose a stern demeanor with true, heartfelt displays of emotion hasn't lost its luster. The under-used Madeleine Stowe portrays Julie as a strong-willed military wife, while Keri Russell makes good use of her onscreen time. Each of the cast members who make up Moore's cavalry give heartfelt performances, most notably Barry Pepper as Galloway, whose narration bookends the film. Movies like "We Were Soldiers" benefit from a connection to reality. The inclusion of characters Moore and Galloway serve to remind us of the factual basis for the stunning visual and emotional assault that conveys war and those affected by it. Wallace's film, while being a great tribute to those who fought for a war still misunderstood by many, is a patriotic display of courage, heroism, honor, and the knowledge that for those who have seen war, victory is bittersweet.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tribute and Salute to Those Who Fought in Vietnam
Review: In recent months, war-related movies Behind Enemy Lines, Black Hawk Down, Hart's War and Collateral Damage have battled it out at the box office. In light of September 11th, their subject matter has gained a profound new meaning, addressing the nature of war and why we wage it. Now, We Were Soldiers steps onto the cinematic battlefield and emerges as the clear victor, well-worth the price of admission. We Were Soldiers tells the story of Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore (Mel Gibson) and the battle at LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang valley, the first major conflict between North Vietnamese troops and American troops in the Vietnam War. Gibson shines in the role, showing us an intelligent, thinking, brave and determined leader. He won't ask a man to do what he won't do himself: "I will be the first to step on the field and I will be the last to step off," he assures his troops. He reads books and studies the nature of his enemy carefully. He trains his men meticulously, preparing them for the ominous battle to come. "Men will die," he tells his troops, knowing that he and his men are at a disadvantage against an enemy on their own turf. In addition to Gibson, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliot, Barry Pepper, and Keri Russell all give outstanding, A+ performances. Kinnear plays Bruce Crandall, a chopper pilot showing determination and courage while still revealing his fear of death in the course of battle. Pepper plays Joe Galloway, the journalist who rides into the heat of battle to get his story first-hand. (Just wait until you hear his reason for becoming a journalist instead of a soldier.) And in spite of my personal disdain for her character on the WB's Felicity, Russell inspires us as a strong-willed mother, in spite of the possibility of losing her husband Jack Geoghegan (Chris Klein) at war. The film does an exceptional job of transitioning from place-to-place, whether from one area of the battlefield to another, to the women and children back home, you always have a good sense of where things are happening and when they're taking place. When one platoon is cut off from the rest of the soldiers, when riverbeds are won and lost, you know exactly what effect it has on the battle. You experience first-hand the grave danger these soldiers experienced. You mourn their deaths and cheer their victories because in spite of the fact that you're sitting in a movie theater, you feel like you're there in battle with them, facing the possibility of death, witnessing the horror of it all. Writer-director Randall Wallace (The Man in the Iron Mask) spends a fair amount of time showing us what is going on behind enemy lines from the point of view of the North Vietnamese. I first heard this was an element of the film before I saw it and was afraid they were going to portray the communist North Vietnamese in a sympathetic light. But, interestingly, these scenes added to the drama and suspense of the film. We see what each leader is thinking and planning for the next attack, which only builds more suspense in anticipation of the next scene to come. A sense of family is well-portrayed among the soldiers, and especially among the wives at home. Madeleine Stowe plays Julie Moore, the wife of Lt. Col. Moore. She heads up the group of wives, giving moral support and preparing them as best she can for the possible death of their husbands. Her and Russell show us the chilling events of how they dealt with relaying the notices of the deaths of their friends' husbands. What is lacking in the film is mention of how the war started, or that North Vietnam was communist. Although these are well-known facts, they are too important to pass over in a film about the Vietnam War. The filmmakers have been saying in their media appearances that this is an anti-war movie due to the graphic nature of the battle scenes. Be prepared: the battles scenes are graphic, but I did not come away thinking they were pro- or anti-war. The sheer quantity of gore can never trump the morality of why we fight a war. These scenes only dramatize the risks of fighting a war, and who and what is at stake. The political elements shown in the film (e.g., how we went into Vietnam unprepared, and failed to properly arm our men in the best way possible) only demonstrate, in my view, that if we do choose to fight a war, we must do so acknowledging the risks and then proceed with the moral certainty that our cause is right, with only one goal: to win. We Were Soldiers is the best war movie Hollywood has released since September 11th, showing us how to fight a battle and how not to fight a war. With outstanding acting and a wide variety of emotions, it is a tribute and a salute to those who fought in Vietnam, and to any soldier who fights for America.
Rating:
Summary: Someone tell Ross to get a life
Review: This is an excellent movie. (...) I thought this movie was terribly moving but not a tissue box movie. There is enough humor to keep you from bawling like a baby and the actors did a great job with the roles they played. It's about time someone made a movie that wasn't politically based about Vietnam. There were men there who have stories that need to be told to eliminate the large amount of fiction that circulates about 'Nam and this is a great start. (...)
Rating:
Summary: shut up ross
Review: Saw an advanced screening good flick definately better than apocalypse now or that car crash called full metal jacket. better because it did not intend to be an acid trip that trys to explain the political forces, of which there are many, behind the vietnam war, but instead focuses on the soldiers and their fearless heroism. hey, ross fact bin laden, shut up nobody cares about those details. if you know so much write your own book i bet it wont sell as much as moores, otherwise review the movie not why it isnt accurate. oh and aviation tech was instituted in 1956 by sgt shut up and enjoy an entertaining movie check page 56 for that!!!!!!!
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