Could have been a truly great movie, but sadly it wasn't.

Rating: 6/10 (13 March 2002)

I went to the bookstore to look through the book this movie was based on. In the prologue, the author criticized Hollywood for screwing up all movies about Vietnam and for not telling how war really is. Hollywood did not do justice once again ironically this time to this very book.

After watching the movie, all I could say to myself is, "Come on, that didn't happen..." This is sad because there are many Americans and viewers around the world who also demand not to be insulted by how Hollywood often likes to. Even sadder is that there are others who are prone to believe that the film really depicts reality... that American soldiers do shoot like Rambo... that the enemy just packs up and leaves seeing defeat... that the Americans clearly won this battle.
It always felt all throughout the film wanted to stay truer to the book and thus to the events that transpired. But after all it is a product of Hollywood which we all know is motivated by profit. That means, the script has to be padded with action, explosions, and moments of patriotism. The fudged-up story confuses fact and fiction and denies all of us the valuable lessons that the brief, brutal, tragic events in the small patch of land in Vietnam could have offered. The decisions to compromise integrity made the difference between a truly great film and a mediocre Vietnam flick.
However, I felt "We Were Soldiers" shined in the opening sequence. I always thought that the beachhead opening scene in "Saving Private Ryan" could never be topped. True, it was filled with action, scale, and immediacy. In "We Were Soldiers" though, the opening sequence in less than two minutes strikes right in your face the savageness and absurdity of war. Highly effective, absolutely brilliant.