As close to real, body-to-body war as can get without being too graphical

Rating: 8/10 (20 February 2020)

I like movies that portray the realities of things and if you want to see what war was probably like in the Vietnamese jungle, you got to watch this! Also, the reality of, perhaps seeing your spouse for the last time, of being anxious, terrified, sick about going to an unpredictable, long-lasting war, very far from home and fighting an enemy that is more than determined to protect its country. It was a graphical movie, but just enough so as to show the ugly sides of military conflict carried out in the most direct, closest range form. The performances were not stellar, but they shouldn't have been either, so that we are not left with how impressed we were with acting, but with how cruel reality was and is for some, but also with how if you are faced with such a reality, you must fight for your country and, beyond that, for the men right next to you because, out there, that is all that you have. It was also nice of the writers to show the Vietnamese side of things and that they were also doing their part in a well-organized, passionate and self-sacrificial manner, just like the Americans.