Excellent movie but the ending spoils it a bit

Rating: 9/10 (6 October 2009)

Be warned that the third paragraph will contain a very big spoiler as I discuss the ending. Meanwhile, there is a lot to praise in this movie. In particular, Sam Elliott's performance is superb, and he is given one of the most succinct summations of the reality of war I've ever seen, this in the ongoing business where the officer wishes him a good day and gets a foul chewing-out in return, and then later on Elliott explains to him on the battlefield what a real good day is for a soldier and the officer reacts. Also excellent is the realism of this movie; it makes you appreciate what all those pilots and grunts went through during that time. Also, the scenes from the Communist perspective are short but illuminating, and the drum soundtrack gives them additional power. There was no way the Americans could know who the enemy leader was at the time, but later on they did meet and talk with Nguyen Huu An. His role in all this is very well done. Please note: Vietnamese wearing a coolie hat and black pajamas are VC; those wearing a uniform--and this applies to the young soldier who charges Col. Moore, too--are member of the North Vietnamese Army. Finally, extra depth is given to the movie by showing the wives coping with it, too; I just marvel at Mrs. Moore and her friend: how could they do that? Love, of course; just like their men, they are taking care of their own.
Overall, this is a very good movie. Now that somebody has portrayed the first contact between North Vietnamese and American foot soldiers, I hope somebody will come out with the first armor contact between the two armies, at Ben Het in 1969. That would be interesting, too. (Next paragraph contains the spoiler.)
Now, the criticism. It's really too bad that Gibson gave in to his desire to "hero" it up with that fictitious bayonet charge at the end. What the cavalrymen actually did there was heroic enough, and there really wasn't any need, apart perhaps from ego, to add in anything extra. In fact, it's the one thing our war in Vietnam never had--there was all this WWII-style carnage, but then the survivors were just transferred out; there was rarely this soul-satisfying win (or loss). From what I've read of the November fight in the Ia Drang in 1965, it was about as close to a traditional win as we got during those year, but that happened without the charge. This ending definitely subtracted from the overall credibility found in the rest of the film.