Where to start...

Rating: Null/10 (27 April 2002)

I can't really say I loved the movie, because it doesn't seem right to say you love a movie that shows us armchair critics a glimpse in the life of soldiers at war. It p***es me off that people say "Oh the movie wasn't historically accurate". I personally don't give a rats ass if it was letter perfect or embellished a little, that's not important in this kind of movie. Make all the comments you like about Pearl Harbor, that film was full of pretty boys and it did nothing but tiptoe around the story in fear of stepping on peoples toes or losing certain sections of the movie-going audiences.
We Were Soldiers is one of the most confronting films I've ever seen. The scene where the burnt soldier is lifted by the legs was horrible, I had to turn my head. The wives at home were well portrayed. How could you live a normal life knowing your husband is at war and all it takes is the dreaded telegram to shatter your very concept of existence? But the image that will
stick with me the most was when Snakeshit took his chopper back to base and the inside was getting hosed down, with all the blood of the dead and injured soldiers washing down the sides.
Greg Kinnear did justice in his role as the helicopter pilot "SnakeShit", those guys had balls beyond belief. Chris Klein, I groaned almost out loud when I saw him, thinking he'd be the pretty boy of the film, but his character "Jack Geoghegan" was just a guy, there to do his duty. Barry Pepper, who played the real life photographer "Joseph Galloway" was really good. Another character who was understated, but a vitally important part of the telling of the tale. Sam Elliott injected the humour into the film as "Sergeant Major Plumley".
Mel Gibson was brilliant, he did his role, this wasn't his story and he didn't take over the film as one might expect. This was the story of Lt. Colonel Hal Moore and his fellow soldiers, and their time in the Ia Drang Valley.
My final thought and statement, would have to be that never, ever again, will I give the major movie critics the support by reading their reviews. They are for the most part a jaded, cynical bunch who should have long ago stopped watching films as it is so blatently clear they no longer enjoy their jobs. This film slaps people in the face and makes them sit up in their theatre seats, and in this day and age when crime and violence is seen as passe those feelings are vitally important.