A poignant and compelling film.

Rating: 7/10 (3 September 2008)

I sat down to see this expecting something similar to FMJ or Born on the Fourth of July. What I got was a compelling and truthful portrait of the opening stages of the US involvement in the Vietnam War.
The film was a tour de force of what families go through while their men are away and what those men themselves experience during war. Something as an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, I can all too readily relate to.
Perhaps it skirted, if not cliché, then sentimentalism at times and lacked the blacker than black humour that most soldiers possess. However the film remains an excellent portrayal at a keypoint in modern US history and a fitting testament to those who, if they weren't motivated by the patriotism Hollywood would have us believe, were certainly motivated to be there for their friends.
If there is one major disappointment in the film, it's the total lack of mention of then Lt. Rick Rescorla, a legend in the 7th Cav, a hero who sadly gave his life on 9/11 and the soldier made famous by the Life magazine photo that adorns the cover of most published versions of We Were Soldiers Once and Young.
He was, of course, one among many whose stories were not told, but it seems a shame that so iconic a figure from the battle of Ia Drang is totally absent and leaves Gibson and Wallace open once again to accusations of Anglophobia.