For fascists only

Rating: 1/10 (19 July 2002)

You'd think that after "The Deer Hunter," "Apocalypse Now," and "Platoon," Hollywood had outgrown Vietnam War movies such as "We Were Soldiers" -- which resembles John Wayne's "Green Berets" and other simplistic, warmongering movies.
"We Were Soldiers" shows a nearly all-white cast of soldiers who are the straightest group of patriots ever in a platoon; hardly anyone smokes, let along does drugs or questions authority.
Mel Gibson's heroic performance is preposterous. That this movie is based on a true story doesn't make him or it seem realistic. The women are overly made-up Barbie dolls. What a waste of the talent of Madeleine Stowe, who was so wonderful in "Short Cuts."
There's no hint that the war was one of greatest moral and political debacles in U.S. history. Instead, the mentality is "Let's kill more of the enemy."
The war scenes are predictably stirring, but the movie is one cliche after another. The movie is morally reprehensible and ludicrous. I give this movie one star. For fascists only.