A good war film--but lacking some of what BRAVEHEART and THE PATRIOT had...

Rating: Null/10 (22 August 2002)

What WE WERE SOLDIERS lacked in short, was some of the raw emotional drive on Mel Gibson's part. For example-in THE PATRIOT his son dies, so he seeks revenge on the soldier who killed him, and in BRAVEHEART his wife dies. This is the "Righteous anger" that Mel Gibson usually uses on screen in these films, and while I understand WE WERE SOLDIERS is very true to the facts, I think Mel could've done some more emotional driven scenes-HOWEVER... I still really liked the film. There were a few parts that dragged out, but overall WE WERE SOLDIERS is an excellent achievment. For those who say too much violence is in this- I personally think it's important to have violence in truth based war films. Pearl Harbor was a disgrace aiming for a PG-13 rating. WE WERE SOLDIERS honors those dead soldiers who died in battle, by using realistic violence, and I personally think it payed off in the end.

Sometimes by the sets they used in the film you could tell were just being flashed with light for explosion effects at night, but this did not matter to me. I thought this film was excellent and I give it 3.5/5 stars-not as good as Braveheart or the Patriot, but still an excellent war movie-possibly Mel's most graphic too.
JOHN ULMER