Rated highly, but something was missing for me.

Rating: 6/10 (16 June 2007)

I eagerly anticipated watching this, mainly because i'm a huge De Niro fan and because my dad gave it such rave reviews. So, naturally, i was delighted when my dad bought it me.
I sat down and watched it but to be honest i found it never really got going. It looked professionally done, the portrayal of Vietnam and the conditions the US troops faced were superb and i accepted for almost the entirety of the movie that we were being built up to a superb ending, only to be throughly underwhelmed when i realised it was over.
De Niro worked well with what he was given and his performance was riveting in some of the Russian Roulette scenes, as was Walken's. However, in general i thought their roles weren't backed up properly and instead were dragged down by a lacklustre plot and a slow pace with unnecessary segments of script.
Overall, a good idea just not pulled off properly and i feel it's true potential was never really released.
6/10.