No No No!

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 2002)

Spoilers to make my point...
Dang this movie frustrates me. Was it good? Yes, it was high quality. Worthy of an Oscar? Probably. This movie had all the superb acting, camera shots, emotional topics of an epic film.
But dang!
Why in God's name was it so unrealistic and unexplained?
Did the three friends get drafted or did they enlist? If they were drafted, as some suggest, would they all be due to report on the same day? Had they been through boot camp already? If not, what are the odds that all three would be in the same platoon? Can this be requested of the Army when enlisting with a bunch of buddies?
I missed how the Vietcong captured all three of them. I saw Robert Di Nero in a battlefield without the other two and next thing I know they are captive in a swamp cage.
The Russian Roulette game was absolutely awesome. But was all of Vietnam like this?
Ok, I am only 39 and perhaps naive, but that is nearly all of Vietnam I saw in the film - a Russian Roulette game, escape, hospital stay, another Russian Roulette game - Di Niro and Walken were separated in Saigon and manage to end up together at another Russian Roulette game? What are the odds of that? They didn't see each other?
How did Savage lose his legs? Last I saw he had a compound fracture of the left leg (unbelievably realistic!), but amputation from the waist down?
Finally, Di Nero figures out Walken is still alive based on some money in Savage's drawer? He flies 15,000 miles back to Vietnam - and at the very moment that Walken is to play Russian Roulette - Di Nero finds him? What if he came a day too late? (Actually - in this case it wouldn't have mattered.)
How did Di Nero get Walken's body back home? The air lift was taking place at that very moment and he was far away from the US Embassy playing Russian Roulette with extremely hostile people and he manages to get Walken's body home?
I know, I know...OK, I am nit picking! But this is NOT a realistic Vietnam movie. It just can't be. The Vietnam scene in Forrest Gump appeared more realistic in terms of the soldiers, terrain, weather, and fight scene.
I indicated I understand why this won the Academy Award - due to it's epic nature.
But, it was still a hodge podge of disconnected scenes.