Excellent war movie

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2002)

This war movie features Mel Gibson in a true story about the early days of the Vietnam war. This film works primarily because the story is compelling and Gibson as the commander of this group of soldiers is excellent, you truly feel that he is a leader. Some truly horrific warfare of course takes up most of the film, but the film does also let you spend some time with the wives back home (Madeline Stowe and "Felicity" vet Keri Russell are the only recognizable ones) so you can get some sense of what they go through as well.. the film also shows a few scenes of the Vietcong commanders and treats them as real people rather than the charactures that so often end up in American war movies. Chris Klein, however, is somewhat miscast as a young soldier, just as he was miscast as an action hero in "Rollerball.." he really should stick to comedies like the "American Pie" movies that made him famous. But aside from that one casting misfire, the film itself is excellent in it's portrayl of a battle most of us probably don't know anout. GRADE: A-