Not as bad as some people here say, not as good either

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2002)

SPOILERS HEREIN!
Well, this is not a serious and compelling war movie like the Platoon was. Rather than that it resembles Saving Private Ryan in many ways. We need to thank these movies for one major thing. They portray the war in the naturalistic way. I can imagine someone may walk out of the theater after seeing some scenes of this movie, but hey, the war is even hundred times more gross than any movie can be. But starting with Saving Private Ryan, the trend to unleash the evil spirit of war and bring it to the movie screen started and this movie continues in it, and does pretty well. Also I liked, that the movie did not try to bring up any philosophical aspects, just shown the plain war, nothing more but also nothing less. Also the music is well written and accompanies the movie nicely, particularly I liked the main song.
But then there comes the bad stuff. And that is the plot - well, although I definitely must give some credit to the writer for leaving out the usual Vietnam controversy stuff, there are numerous other unnecessary scenes, such as American flag waving in the highest emotional scenes, it has been currently some kind of fashion in the movies of this type, but is it REALLY THAT necessary? Also the scene with the soldiers gathering at the airport in the middle of the night to leave for Vietnam - come on, give me a break! And final, and the worst - why the heck Moore first leaves two thirds of his men die in the hellish battle and then second day suddenly calls for the airstrike? Does that make ANY sense whatsoever? And then, am I the only one who thinks the soldiers behaved like monks in the monastery? No f-words, no profanity. Would that really happen in the situation like that? A bit unrealistic, at least for me.
So the conclusion - I have to praise this flick for the portrayal of the hell of war. But I also have to put it down for unnecessary scenes, unrealistic political correctness and some flaws in acting. Lets break it even then - 5/10