Mel Gibson war movie.

Rating: 8/10 (19 September 2002)

The whole movie is based around the battle which apparently started the Vietnam war (so a worthy subject to dramatise). Its a war movie with the usual Gibson sentiment, but despite the occasional Americana its very good. The battle scenes are amazing, with some originality thrown in for a change, not just old hat war stuff. Brilliantly filmed as you would imagine, and the CGI effects are kept to an apparent minimum (clearly they are there otherwise there would be a massive drop in the extras available in Hollywood).
There is at least an attempt to explain why the war happened, although it is far from satisfactory. There is even an attempt to show that the "enemy" really aren't any different from US. The script is not Oscar worthy, but at least its not the usual cliches we associate with war movies. The cliches are there, but they are few and far between. The story has no massive surprises as its not that kind of film. Its about the battle. People die, people survive. Its more about the sensation of war that is forced upon you.
I confess to watching this with the intent of not liking it. I generally don't like Americans doing war movies. This surprised me however by being a good movie. Gibson's performance is very much Braveheart with a gun, but as a starting block, there are worst characters to imitate. The biggest problem is that you leave wondering just how much of the story is true. It is after all an American film about war, based on a novel (We Were Soldiers Once...And Young) by an American guy who was in the battle, released at a time when America is at a war of sorts and needs something positive to lift them.
A good movie which would have been great accept for my own cynicism.