Great action, but too much Hollywood and patriotism!

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2002)

"Finally, there´s a big vietnam movie again!" That´s what I thought before I went to the cinema. But, to be honest, this title didn´t meet my expectations. It´s about one of the very first missions of the USA army in Vietnam, where they had pretty more difficulty fighting the vietcongs than they had expected..... The big problem with this movie is that there´s too much Hollywood and USA-patriotism in it. In that way, the picture you get by watching this isn´t the good picture. Everything is seen, as usual, from the American point of view. On top of that, I couldn´t see Mel Gibson as a Vietnam soldier. I just had too many associations witch characters like he plays in the Lethal Weapon series. Of course, he also played in the classic Braveheart as a real strider, but in We Were Soldiers, the picture of him as a leading figure in Vietnam just didn´t fit. There are some things I have to say in defense of this movie: it has great action and sounds. On top of that, they use new camera techniques I´ve never seen in a war movie, which is pretty great to watch. So, in sum, if you want to see a movie which is quite simple, has a lot of action and good camera shots, you should watch this movie. If you love a good script and want good actor performances, don´t go see it. No, I´m sorry, I can´t recommend this movie.