Lame, until Barry pepper shows up.

Rating: Null/10 (2 November 2003)

I'll take it for granted that you've read the plot outline so I'll just give you my low down on how this film came out.
What starts off as yet another advert for American nationalism quickly turns into a Platoon clone, trying to mimick the inherrent violence seen in Oliver Stone's classic war movie.
It all seems a little bit too cheesy with two dimensional characters, obvious dialogue ("my baby boy was born today..." BANG!! "arghhh"). This film really doesn't hide any of the more obvious war movie cliches and it all seems to be going down hill.
Thats until Barry Pepper shows up, playing Galloway, a war photographer caught in the middle of the most brutal battle. His performance sets the screen on fire, the same way he did in the Green Mile and Saving Private Ryan. This is one truly talented actor. He puts Gibson to shame, and shadows all of the movie's cheesier moments and perfects the atmosphere with his unique brand of emotion that seems to jump out of the screen and inject itself into one's soul.
So what should have been a terrible rendition of a vietnam war movie actually turns into an emotional rollercoaster due to this one man's efforts. But sometimes I think even he isn't enough to save what is ultimately a generic and deliberately over the top movie that plays for shock tactics and not for realism.
Watch Platoon instead if you haven't seen it.