We Were Soldiers

Pros: Story, Gibson, Stowe, Supporting Cast, Direction
Cons: The score is really mismatched to the action.

“They finally got it right.“ That was Harold G. Moore’s comment in the short subject Getting it Right on the DVD version of We Were Soldiers. He ought to know, because he was the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of the ...

Pros: Captures the theme and feel of the Vietnam era
Cons: The painful and prolonged visions of the Vietnam battlefield may too much for viewers.

Has anyone noticed the recent debut of war movies? Although I like war movies lately I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed especially since “Black Hawk Dawn”, “Hart’s War”, and “We Were Soldiers” are all showing at the same time....

Pros: Gritty, realistic combat scenes.
Cons: Yellow cabs. Some unnecessary emotional ploys and melodramatic soliloquies.

The book on which We Were Soldiers is based has an honored place on my bookshelves. I have read it more than once. Like many of my age, I lived the national horror that was Viet Nam. I have wanted to see this film since it was released but I...

Pros: Great acting and writing.
Cons: A few glitches in the special effects.

I read We were soldiers once...and young several years ago. I enjoyed the book but never took time to see the movie. I happened upon the movie last week and decided to watch it. For the most part, it seemed that the movie stayed true to the ...

Pros: Positive portrayal of U.S. soldiers; incrediblly realistic special effects.
Cons: A little bit of Hollywood story telling.

By writing here, I don't intend to provide too many details concerning this film's plot, character development, or the acting in any specific terms. I write here to explain why viewing this film was a powerful experience for me and why I recommend...

Pros: Gibson, Elliott, Kinnear, Stowe
Cons: Movie tends to fall into cliche territory

Plenty of scenes in “We Were Soldiers” show just how unprepared we were for the sacrifices that would come in the Vietnam War. None hits closer to home than the scene where a taxi driver with Western Union telegrams comes to the home of Julie Moore...

Pros: Tough, gritty, and realistic battle scenes
Cons: Prone to emotionally manipulate audiences

[An Open Letter to Mel Gibson and Randall Wallace, the star and writer/director (respectively) of We Were Soldiers]

Dear Messrs. Gibson and Wallace,

I’ve just finished watching your latest movie, We Were Soldiers,...

Pros: Some excellent acting, good score, good story, good cinematography and a solid cast.
Cons: None

Joe Galloway: There were no bands, no flags, no honor guard to welcome them home. They went to war because their country ordered them to. But in the end they fought not for their country or their flag, they fought for each other. We Were ...

Pros: Well-written, tautly directed, with great performances by Gibson and the cast.
Cons: May be too gory for many people.

We Were Soldiers, Randall Wallace's 2002 feature film about the three-day Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam, is perhaps the best Hollywood depiction of America's "lost crusade" in Indochina. Based on Lt. Gen. Harold B. Moore and Joseph Galloway's ...

Pros: A study of Honor.
Cons: Bloody in the extreme.

This review is the second part of a two-movie look at the Vietnam Experience. If you wish to see Part I of this perspective, you might want to take a look at my earlier review of Oliver Stone's movie, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.

As I said in...

Pros: A story that needed to be told.
Cons: Moore was too perfect in some ways.

I just finished watching We Were Soldiers. I’m still crying, and I don’t even feel bad about ...

Pros: If this is true, I am sorry we ever put our boys through it
Cons: the pain of learning the truth

I’ll be the first one to step on the soil[1]

Glory, you’re wondering, what’s SusiDee doing watching and reviewing a current movie? Just cause I thought this war movie should have the female slant on it, that’s why.

I...

Pros: Cinematography, the performances, directing, Editing, and the heart of this film
Cons: A few aspects of the music, a little bloody

After several decades of what appears to be political disdain from American film makers for an unpopular war, (Viet Nam) I am thankful that there has finally been a movie made which does some honor to the those Americans that fought bravely...

Pros: An honest look at America's early entry into the Vietnam quagmire.
Cons: Some terrain and historical inaccuracies. Some omission of salient facts on the battle.

UPDATE: ON 25 FEBRUARY 2007, IN CEREMONIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE, LTC BRUCE CRANDALL, USA (RET) RECEIVED THE MEDAL OF HONOR FROM PRESIDENT BUSH FOR HIS HEROISM DURING THE BATTLE OF THE IA DRANG IN 1965. Crandall was played by Greg Kinnear in the ...

Pros: Has no hippies or anti-war stuff like in most Nam movies
Cons: A couple of unpleasant surprises

We Were Soldiers is a wonderful and moving film from the writer of Braveheart and Man in the Iron Mask. He also wrote Pearl Harbor, but nobody's perfect. It is about the first major ground battle that took place in the Viet Nam war.

Mel...