Excellent Intensity and Balance

Rating: 10/10 (2 March 2002)

This is the story of the Battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam-- a 3-day battle at LZ (landing zone) X-Ray in which a little over 400 American soldiers faced 2000 of the men of the Army of North Vietnam and eked out a narrow victory. Terrible lessons were learned from this battle: the North Vietnamese learned that they could stand up to superior American firepower (helicopters, M-16s, artillery), and the Americans learned that one American with same could kill a significantly larger number of the enemy. This led to the "meat-grinder" theory of the war which caused so many American casualties, and an even greater number of Vietnamese deaths.
Basing his movie very firmly on Gen. Hal Moore's and Joe Galloway's book "We Were Soldiers Once and Young," Randall Wallace has produced what I think is the very finest movie on the Vietnam War ever. In fact, I think it is even superior to the much ballyhooed Private Ryan. The battle scenes are intense, relentless-- and these are balanced by looks back at the homefront where the wives left behind at Fort Benning are having to cope with the loss of their men. There is a lot seen from the perspective of the North Vietnamese as well. This is very unusual and quite refreshing in a war picture.
All the performances are good-- no exceptions. Sam Elliot's Sgt. Major Plumley is a gruff delight as he plays the ultimate career soldier. Barry Pepper turns in a strong performance as the journalist Joe Galloway. As for Mel Gibson-- well, this may be the best performance he has ever given. Subtly underplaying his role as (then) Lt. Colonel Hal Moore, he still embodies leadership and experience, devotion to home, duty and his men. And at the end of the battle it is through his eyes that you experience all the pain the loss of so many of his men has brought him.