WE WERE SOLDIERS
Released: March 1, 2002
Directed by the guy who wrote "Braveheart" makes "We Were Soldiers" sound promising. But then, Randall Wallace also wrote the hideously dumb "Pearl Harbor" too. Here we achieve a middle ground. Wallace not only writes this new Mel Gibson vehicle but also directs it. I cannot fully recommend "We Were Soldiers" but I can say that it is probably the MOST VIOLENT war movie I've ever seen! More violent than "Saving Private Ryan" even!! You may wanna think twice about chowing down on popcorn and hotdogs while watching this bloodspurtin' bullet-pierced flick. In a place soon to be known as The Valley of Death, in a small clearing called landing zone X-Ray, Lt. Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) and 400 young fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, all troopers from an elite American combat division, were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. The ensuing battle was one of the most savage in U.S. history. Gibson is good as a miltary leader but can't shake his inate affable good natured self, especially in a scene towards the end where you sorta wonder if he's playing Martin Riggs from the "Lethal Weapon" series instead. He's supported by a variety of actors at varying stages of their career. Chris Klein, fresh from both "American Pie" movies, shows a more serious side here. Madeleine Stowe plays Gibson's wife and does a fine job as the anchor of the home base as she deals with the other wives as news from the front hits home. Another wife is played by TV's "Felicity" star Keri Russell, who is also very good. Sam Elliot turns in a solid role but for the life of me I can't figure out why they had so much time devoted to the Greg Kinnear character, a helicopter pilot. Canadian Barry Pepper ("Saving Private Ryan") returns to a war movie here but this time as a news photographer reporting from the front line. "We Were Soldiers" is based upon the book written by Gibson's real life soldier equivalent, Lt. Col. Harold Moore. What I liked about the movie was deeper character development compared to Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down" and the successful display of characters from both sides of the conflict. The Viet-Cong are portrayed not as the faceless enemy but as real people with emotions and consciences. It's a rare movie that lets you see both sides in a human fashion. If you can take all the bloodletting, "We Were Soldiers" is a fine war movie but just not as utterly memorable as "Apocalypse Now" or the aforementioned "Saving Private Ryan".
149 Minutes
Icon/Paramount