the untold story of the early years of Vietnam

Rating: 7/10 (5 February 2005)

This is a solid war movie, and I enjoy watching it once a month. Well, given the fact that I am a Huey junkie, the chopper scenes certainly help. A friend of mine commented, "Well, it's strange, the soundtrack to the movie is tribal in nature, and there's no memorable Sixties' tunes, like in other Nam movies." I explained to him that WWS to place in 1965, about a year or two before the huge appearance of the anti-war movement, and certainly predating the hippie movement, so these elements weren't meant to appear.
A lot of it is fictionalized, but then again, so were many aspects of Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan (some of the only worthwhile modern war movies in about the last twenty years). We Were Soldiers tells the rather un-hip story of the early Vietnam years, so, I must state again, that this is why you don't hear any tunes from the Rolling Stones, The Doors, or Zeppelin. That's 1968 onward... I guess... and WWS does a commendable job.
The uniforms are right on target with the 1965-66 timeframe. The choppers used featured equipment and weapons that wouldn't appear until a year or two later, but that's OK. The combat scenes capture the essence of the fighting, and thankfully no retarded cuts or zooms were used. However, we don't see a single M14 rifle (the precursor to the M-16, which is seen all over the place in WWS), as most of the troops would have been using them as the M16 wasn't fully deployed to units at that time. But the best thing I can say is that the characters of 2LT Geoghan (or whoever), SGM Plumley, and SGT Savage look incredibly like their real-life counterparts, as far as i could tell in the photo section of the novel. That kind of accuracy is commendable. The true-to-life events, such as the airstrike, are well done.
I do have some gripes though... having served in the Army (1996-2001), there are some shortcomings that I am able to spot. There is not enough development given to make enough of the supporting characters memorable. This worked in Black Hawk Down, but not here. Plenty of faces appear beyond the top and second-billed characters, but something was missing. I would have liked to see more of Too Tall (the other pilot), Godbolt (the black dude), Jimmy Nakawama (got burned bad) and CPT Nadal ("we have an American Platoon... OUT THERE!"). They're mentioned plenty of times, and they function to give what I call their "partner character" some depth, but they themselves either appear, disappear, or don't have enough lines. Also, the sound is not terribly well-mixed as some of the dialogue is muffled, and the editing is about average. Some key scenes take place in near darkness, so knowing who's who as well as the emotional impact is missed.
One thing that really irks me is.... the lack... no, the absence of the portrayal of black soldiers. PFC Godbolt is Geoghan's partner character, but he doesn't get a single line. He looks like a nice guy, throws a grenade, gets shot, dies. Obviously, black soldiers made up quite a bit of the Army in 1965 (and even now.... almost pointless to say) but there's no representation of them (I Don't MEAN "THEM" IN A BAD WAY, OK??) except for Godbolt's wife back home. The Asian soldier, Jiimmy Naki-something, appears, for like a split second in the beginning, then runs into Joe Galloway (I cant remember the guys name) during the attack. The he gets wounded. He's about the only minority who gets a line. Both he and Godbolt were real people...hmmmm.... The voice-over narration is used very spottily, and this coulda been polished up. Finally, there is a mention of "losing a boatload of draftees is a bad week": the draft wasn't in effect until 1969.
Nevertheless, WWS is a solid war movie that tells the lesser-known era of the Vietnam involvement. Yeah, everyone knows about the hippies, the peace signs on the soldier's helmets, the out of reg uniforms, the negative attitude, but these are staples of Nam movies that take place later in the war. I wouldn't mind seeing a movie made that deals with the later years of the war (say, 1972). Plus Madeline Stowe does a good job in as supporting role. Plus she looks real cute when she does that flinch/double take when the cab guy arrives at her door.
On par with BHD or SPR? No. But it is on the level of Platoon, Glory, and Hamburger Hill. 7 of 10