Alicia I love this movie so much

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

jplog75 An over dramatic representation of a moment in history that doesn't need it. More along the lines of Heartbreak Ridge or Death Before Dishonor instead of classics like Platoon or Full Metal Jacket. I like less cheese in my military movies.

Samiam3 "I will be the first to set foot on the filed, and I will be the last to step off, and I will leave no man behind." So declares Lt. Hal Moore played by Mel Gibson the day before he and his outfit set off across the Pacific for the front lines of Vietnam. Easily the highlight line of the movie, it would be easy enough to see this as the kind of cheesy bravado that romanticizes war heroes, but We Were Soldiers gets away with it by being everything but romantic. There are moments where the images of blood alone may be enough to summon misty eyes.The movie doesn't bring anything new to the genre, but it is a visually genuine and visceral depiction of battle and survival. The American invasion of Communist Vietnam is something that to this day, virtually nobody is proud of so. All the better it is that the film has no political bias or stance on the conflict. It even does something to the contrary. The Vietcong "charlie" are not bad guys, they are merely soldiers fighting for their homeland.The firefighting is quite exhausting but it is the individual moments in-between the bullets that lift We Were Soldiers out of the chaos. Director Randall Wallace adds a curious scoring touch laying "Sgt. Mackenzie." (a Scottish WWI ballad), over the first moments of the final assault.The irony is that this is a song about the will to die for country; not a compatible motif with 'nam,Regardless of its political correctness, the words end up being less important than the somber and haunting tone of the melody. Our characters are not fighting for country, they are fighting for each other, and to get home to their loved ones. Every now and then, Wallace cuts from the front lines back to America to focus on Moore's Wife and the wives of his comrades. Day to day they live in fear of receiving a certain letter from the government regarding their husbands. The impact of these scenes on the picture is rather minimal, but it serves to remind us of what is really at stake, while showcasing one of Madaline Stowe's better performances. She barely has to say a word, you can read the vulnerability in her eyes.True to his word, Hal Moore is the first to step off the field, and there is a good shot of his boot coming of the grass and into the chopper that will take him back to the home of the brave. The final sequences are heavy on unspoken melodrama, over emphasizing the loss of life. The film doesn't rely on our knowledge of the history to add to the tragedy. It is a story about brothers and comrades who fought together and died together.

Wuchak Released in 2002, "We Were Soldiers" stars Mel Gibson as Col. Hal Moore who leads the first major battle between Americans and the North Vietnamese Army in The Battle of Ia Drang Valley over four days in mid-November, 1965. Sam Elliott costars as the seasoned NCO and Barry Pepper as a bold photographer while Madeleine Stowe appears as the Colonel's wife. Greg Kinnear is also on hand as a helicopter pilot while Keri Russell plays a soldier's wife.The movie is based on the book "We Were Soldiers Once… and Young" by Col. Moore and the aforementioned photographer, Joe Galloway. As such, "We Were Soldiers" is a straight-forward realistic depiction of the battle and the first film depiction where Moore claimed "Hollywood finally got it right." This reminds me of something someone I know who fought in Nam said: All the other films about the war from the late 70s to late 80s didn't strike him as the way it really was, but after seeing "We Were Soldiers" he said, "That's the way it was." Be that as it may, it doesn't make it as good as 1986' "Platoon" or 1979's "Apocalypse Now." The former is so great because the platoon in the story is a microcosm of many platoons and their experiences throughout the war, which might come across as "too much" because the filmmakers only have about 2 hours to tell the story and they have to jam a whole year of experiences into that time frame. Incredibly, "Platoon" fleshes-out no less than a dozen memorable characters with its grunt's-eye view of the conflict while telling a compelling story. By contrast, "We Were Soldiers" only presents about four memorable characters during the battle and, while it's a solid war flick, it simply isn't as compelling.As for "Apocalypse Now," it's useless to compare the two because (1.) the original version of "Apocalypse Now" (as opposed to the horribly flawed "Redux") is a downright cinematic masterpiece; (2.) it's way more than just a war movie; and (3.) its theme is deeper than the conventional and patriotic portrayal of the realistic "We Were Soldiers." If you're not familiar with the theme of "Apocalypse Now," it's basically this: Capt. Willard (Sheen) comes face-to-face with two Colonels during his mission up the river to assassinate the rogue Col. Kurtz. Both of the colonel's names start with 'K,' which is no accident. Col. Kilgore (Duvall) is a romantic who embraces war as a lifestyle and even feeds off it. The fact that he's a romantic can be observed in the air-raid on the village where he literally plays Wagner as a prologue. He feeds off the war to the extent that he "loves the smell of napalm in the morning." War is just another day to him so why not go surfing? Since he lives off of the war there's no way it can kill him or even give him a scratch. Kilgore naturally has the support of the top brass because he's part of the system and plays the game of war. Col. Kurtz (Brando), by contrast, sees through this hypocrisy. He realizes that being in a state of war is humanity gone mad. It's horror itself and therefore must be ended through the quickest means possible at whatever cost. He refuses to play the game of war as he expertly takes out double agents, etc. Of course the brass can't have this so they put out a hit on Kurtz via Willard."We Were Soldiers" instead opts for a simple portrayal of the first major battle of the infamous war and the bravery & horror thereof. The story essentially proposes the question: What would happen if you drop 400 American soldiers into a valley crawling with 4000 soldiers of the NVA? The fighting is presented realistically, brutally and relatively coherently given the chaos of the intense conflict. Col. Moore truly loves his men and Gibson carries the movie with the peripheral help of Elliot and Barry Pepper. On top of this, the movie gives quite a bit of time to North Vietnamese side of the story, which enhances the story.Some people have rolled their eyes at the Morro Bay locations of central coastal, California, but if you look at Galloway's real-life pics of the battle they chose a great stand-in for the grassy valley. I guess people don't realize that Vietnam isn't all conventionally tropical jungle.The film runs a little overlong at 2 hours and 18 minutes and was shot in Morro Bay, Pasadena and Fort Hunter Liggett, California; as well as Fort Benning and Columbus, Georgia.GRADE: B- (6.5/10 Stars)

LJTweed First of all, there is no denying that this is an important story that should be told. The first conflict in the Vietnam debacle is modern history at its most intense. That being said...The movie is a menagerie of complete awful. It fails on every level of filmmaking. The dialogue is farmed from the worst of John Wayne's WWII clichés. (Every word from Sam Elliot's mouth.) The directing is the worst example of film student pushiness. (The Barry Pepper photo montage.) The acting is so over the top that Al Pacino would be jealous. (Mel Gibson hamming it up in the role of Lt. Col. Hal Moore.) Even the FX are just amateur versions of Michael Bay movies. However, Greg Kinnear shines as Maj. Bruce 'Snake' Crandall, the helicopter pilot in charge of coordinating flights in and out of the "hot zone". His hubris and humanity make up for more than a few of the more exploitative and under-developed characters. There is more good and bad here. Needless flashbacks to home life. A bizarre tour inside the mind of the VC's Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An. Tantalizing moments of sheer horror in the midst of war. Hero stories.In the end, I wanted this movie to be good. I wanted this important story to be told well but due to the incompetent directing and writing of Randall Wallace I was left feeling unsatisfied and cheated. If you want to see a remake of anything, it should probably be this movie.