Directed by:
Randall WallaceScreenplay:
Randall WallaceCinematography:
Dean SemlerComposer:
Nick Glennie-SmithCast:
Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper, Ryan Hurst, Robert Bagnell, Marc Blucas, Jsu Garcia (more)VOD (5)
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Searing account of the Vietnam War's first major battle starring Mel Gibson as Lt. Col. Hal Moore, who refuses to yield to the overwhelming numbers of his determined enemy during a bloody 1965 clash in the Drang Valley. (Showtime)
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Reviews (9)
The Vietnam War is an essentially inexhaustible topic. It's possible to film classic, dramatic war movies about it, as well as psychedelic horrors and actually even comedies. We Were Soldiers is a variant of a dramatic war film, where it's not just about the action, which is captured above average, but also about how the action affects those who stayed at home. Thousands of kilometers over which nothing can be influenced. A powerful story told with an excess of pathos, but this war deserves it. Or at least the soldiers who were thrust into it.
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Le Massacre... deserved a better screenplay. But leaving out a couple of things would have been enough. The introductory elimination of the French unit is great. So are the excellent battle scenes in the second half, they give that proper touch of reality and the burned, half-dead soldiers will make you feel pretty bad. The disparity with the utterly pathetic lines about dying proudly for one’s country is irritating. Much better movies have been made about Vietnam. Fix bayonets!
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A very respectable contribution to the genre that’s hindered only by the cheaply conceived visual form and by the overdone affectation (slow-motion shots). Otherwise, however, We Were Soldiers isn’t lacking in pacing or raw realism, or a firm foundation of thought, or a strong leading personality in the form of Mel Gibson, who is the best thing about the whole film.
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As long as Randall Wallace is attack in the mode of heroic soldiers who shoot, run, or die in slow motion, each shot or fall affects me so strongly that I started fumbling for a handkerchief surprisingly quickly. However, once the pleasant pathos starts to melt into words and endless diluted phrases about pride, wives, or dying for the homeland, the charm disappears. Then suddenly the sloppiness of the screenplay or the occasional visual routine starts to surface. If it weren't for the fact that Hal is literally tailored for Mel Gibson, who can take roles like this to the absolute maximum, the outcome would be a class lower.
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Randall wrote Braveheart for his buddy Mel, and his buddy Mel promised his buddy Randall he'd be in his movie, a film that pretends to be a profound and well-crafted work, but it is not. The problem is that Wallace is not a very skilled director, the locations that are supposed to simulate Vietnam are very unconvincing and some scenes (especially the one with the angry photographer) look so awkward that I was ashamed of him. A truly unexpectedly bad film.
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Gallery (85)
Photo © 2002 Paramount Pictures
![We Were Soldiers - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/160/326/160326178_cb31ce.jpg)
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