A realistic, great movie. . . . but over-hyped

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 1999)

Alright, this one definately one of the best films of 1998, and contained some of the most harrowing, frightening, and realistic battle footage ever filmed. Now I saw it the day after it was released, before ANY hype had touched this film. This film was so over-hyped, it became sickening. Another thing that's so annoying is that people are calling this "the greatest war or anti-war movie ever made." It is may be one of the best, but is isn't in the same ballpark as some of the others. This film is meant to show the horrors of war through battle and carnage. Yes that is one way to show it, but the more "anti-war" style to show it is to show more humanity and suffering, like "The Killing Fields" (the best anti-war film) or "Born On the Fourth Of July" (even "Platoon"). But because of hype, it has the look of an action blood-and-guts type of film. The video stores are categorizing this under ACTION. ACTION. The film had a weak script, but still a story to buoy the film, and an annoying, overly patriotic, beginning and ending, which did play a toll on the film. For a second, you might even think it glorified war. But nevertheless, it is mostly overlooked because of the intensity
But these people who call this "the greatest war film ever" complain about this year's other war companion "The Thin Red Line." it was so different from this, taking a different and interesting approach to "war is hell" and was a great film, but obviously, flopped. Thank god hype didn't kill that. But nevertheless, this is still on my top 5 list of 1998 and is worth a rent.