one of the best vietnam movies. period.

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2002)

As a former member of the US Army and a Drill Sergeant I saw much in the movie that seemed dead on accurate. I've seen comments here complaining about cliche`s, missing character development, and inaccurate terrain. Read the book is the first thing I'll say. Second, if you haven't been in the military and haven't seen combat then characterize your comments that way if you think something doesn't look real or is a cliche. I was blown away by how much they got right.
But was the movie entertaining? Yes, it was nonstop action and one situation after another where you are thinking "no way, people actually lived through that".
Lack of character development - how in the world can you say that? The beginning was your character development to get you interested in the characters. The scene where Snake#### pulls his revolver on the medivac pilot was character development (during the scene that caused his reaction I thought to myself "man I would deck that medivac pilot next time I saw him"). Did they do it they way you liked? Maybe not, but not liking their character development isn't the same as none at all...
I'm curious what cliche`s people are complaining about? The only one I might agree to is the image of the senior leaders standing tall as bullets whiz by. Did it happen that way? I don't know but if it did they were lucky eh? Otherwise, what else? I just didn't see anything else that struck me as false, insincere, or there simply for effect. You have to admit they seem to be getting the damned uniforms, tactics, and lingo right these days.