Review Of "We Were Soldiers"

Rating: 7/10 (23 September 2011)

Randall Wallace's "We Were Soldiers" tells the story of the events that surrounded the first major battle of the Vietnam War. The film stars Mel Gibson, Barry Pepper, and Greg Kinnear. First off, the greatest aspect of this film is the really strong lead performances from Mel Gibson - He really shines in this role. Another impressive performance in the film is Sam Elliott's portrayal of Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley. His character has some of the most memorable lines of dialogue in the film which are often crass and caustic. Another very memorable aspect of the film is it's intensely realistic use of special effects. The film uses special effects to simulate what the actual Battle Of Ia Drang was like. Some of the special effects are really engaging and compelling while other special effects are grotesque and grisly, but either way it helps to ground this film in realism. While a lot of the performances in the film were noteworthy, there were some that were. . .not. I'm not going to say which ones fell flat, but there were some moments when actors delivered their lines in a really unsuitable way. These moments don't really take away from the film's overall appeal, but. . .their just bad. All in all, I felt that "We Were Soldiers" was a fairly impressive film that crafted a very believable simulation of the first battle of the Vietnam War.