-insert positive review title-

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2010)

To all the people who gave this movie negative reviews, I ask you- did you even watch this movie? If the answer to that is yes, I have to wonder exactly what rock you've been living under, that you have no idea how human beings work.
Let's take a look at some of the criticism we've seen here:
1- 'It's cliché!' Some of the clichés cited- Hal Moore is too perfect, the Americans are all heroes, the housewives are all good little housewives.
On Hal Moore being 'too perfect', don't be stupid. People like that actually exist. I know a few who come very close. I myself come pretty damn close, except I'm not married. The kids I devote my time to, pray with, and try to teach real-world concepts to are someone else's. If a real four-to-six-year-old child asked you what war was, what exactly would you tell her? If it's anything more specific and gruesome than what the movie said, I'd have to wonder about your judgment and rethink ever leaving a child that young in your care.
Next, the Americans are all heroes. Yes, because charging off against orders, getting your platoon cut off from the main body of soldiers, and getting most of your men killed by running after obvious bait into an obvious trap is very heroic. And of course, we all look up to and idolize pilots who accidentally bomb their own lines and get their own soldiers killed or severely wounded.
And yes, the above paragraph should be read with the heaviest infliction of sarcasm you can manage.
And oh, my God, a movie that takes place in the 60s actually has housewives acting like they would in the 60s. How dare Hollywood. How dare they.
2- 'Nobody says stupid things like 'tell my wife I love her' when they're dying!'
Anyone saying this has obviously never thought they were going to die. As someone who has come close to dying - five times - I can tell you without embarrassment or shame that the only thought on my mind all five times was the fear that I didn't tell and show the dearest person to me (my little sister) how much I loved her. I wasn't thinking of how much it hurt, how scared I was, why I was in those situations. All I could think was 'Did I do enough to show Diana how much I love her? Does she know how much I owe her, how much I care about her, how grateful I am for all she's done for me?' And if what is nearest and dearest to a person is their country, I have no trouble believing that their sacrifice in said country's name would be uppermost in their mind. When we as human beings think we're about to die, our minds turn to the things that are most important to us. To a husband and father, that's likely his family. For me, it's my sister, who's the only person I actually think of as family. For a true dyed-in-the-wool patriot, that would most definitely be his country.
3- 'It's pro-Vietnam!'
No, it's not. It even comes right out and says, through the mouth of a Vietnamese soldier, that America going into Vietnam didn't change anything- it only made the body count higher. How is a movie that flat-out says a war did nothing but get a lot of people needlessly killed support said war?
4- 'It pushes religion!'
Religious people pray. Get over it.
And please, take note of who leaves what kind of review here. I couldn't help but notice that not a single Vietnam vet who left a review for this movie had anything bad to say about it. Think- the people who fought in the war this movie depicts can only praise it. That tells you something.