Looooong and depressing....

Rating: Null/10 (25 February 2000)

I missed this film at the cinema so snapped up the chance of renting it on video instead. I was expecting this to be along the same lines as Saving Private Ryan which was absolutely tremendous, however I was really dissapointed with this movie.
While some of the characters where excellently realised and portrayed, esp. Elias Koteas, I found the film to be way too long with a lot of it being very boring. The middle section which had charlie squad pushing it's way up a hill in order to secure the top was the only part of the movie which really had any substance, or story for that matter. Most of the films narrative has it's various characters pondering the futility of war and life in general. A lot of this narrative is obscure and seems pointless but still wears the viewer down, like much of the rest of the movie. The pace is very slow too but it has to be said the most of the acting is very good indeed. Especially of note are Elias Koteas, Sean Penn and Nick Nolte. Ultimately this film is the movie equivelant of Pink Floyds "The Final Cut". Long, depressing, and once you experienced it you don't really want to hear/see it again.