7 on a scale of 10

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2002)

I give this movie a 7 somewhat begrudgingly. The reason is because I didn't particularly enjoy it. In fact, after the first hour I was much more interested in the amount of time remaining than I was in the movie. It was constant action, but it was also sort of boring. The reason is because the action was so constant and so consistently the same thing, that it was tiring long before it was over. Minus 1 point.
I also deducted a point for the fact that not one single character was even remotely developed. You could EASILY have watched this movie without knowing a single name or a single personal characteristic about any character and you would have lost nothing. The reason is because there was virtually nothing to lose. Far too impersonal. It seems to me we should have been much more aware of at least what was at stake for several of the characters. Instead it was one constant blitz of bullets - the result of which, we really didn't care who got hit since we knew some would get killed and some wouldn't. Minus 1 point.
Lastly, I am sick and tired of movies that have the same ludicrously unrealistic scene. Well, in this case, scene after scene after scene. Close your eyes. Imagine 50 soldiers in the street. Now imagine another 50 of the enemy (all with automatic weapons) in the windows and roofs surrounding the soldiers. Now imagine all of them shooting at each other with little cover. Thousands of rounds per minute. OBVIOUSLY, the 50 in the street would be dead within 30 seconds. Well, there you have it. There are numerous 5 minute scenes just exactly as I described where instead of 50 soldiers in the street getting killed, perhaps 3 got hit and they were successfully carried off. Completely ridiculous. Minus 1 point.
If you just want to watch blood and guts, you got it - perhaps the best blood and guts movie ever made. But, I can think of at least a dozen war movies that were far superior!