What the hell were they thinking?

Rating: 1/10 (8 August 2002)

Actually, I don't even know where to start This is without any doubts one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen.. I had great expectations, I was looking forward to see this movie, damn' I even checked the IMDB rating
The movie starts with the ordinary `We are proud American soldiers ready to die for our country' crap. Every soldier is a hero, a perfect husband and a loving father with a great family living in a nice house. The first 45 minutes are a serious version of The Truman Show. And yes you'll see crying children asking daddie `What is war?'.. and yes you'll see the badass old veteran being harsh against the young soldiers.. and yes surprisingly you'll also see a young soldier that is deeply in love with his wife and wonders if "the war is right or not"..
Unfortunately the first 45 minutes are the best part of the movie. It seems that after the soldiers arrive in Vietnam, the director stopped using the manuscript and started to improvise the whole movie. The rest of the movie is a huge and brutal orgy in the exchange of fire between Americans and Vietcong. The problem is that the war part of the movie is so crappy made that sometimes I couldn't believe my eyes that none of the people involved in the movie, said `Guys, this is bad!'.
The most annoying thing is probably how unrealistic the fire fights actually are. Most of the Vietcong soldiers have one mission  to run towards the Americans and start shooting only within 10 meter range. It's like playing a badly programmed computer game with non-existent enemy AI. Another annoying thing is that classical `Rambo-syndrome'. The `less important' American soldiers are dying all over the place. The bullets are hitting the ground just a few inches from the main characters but are they hiding and taking cover? Of course not They standing in the middle of the action and kill every bad guy they spot..
Don't expect the unexpected in this film. Every time a soldier tries to go back and pick up a wounded team mate, he will die. Every time someone dies, he will always have enough time to say `Tell my wife I love her' before he closes his eyes. The list of complains could go on forever
And I probably shouldn't even mention the incident with the photographer's camera which first is shot out of his hands and later magically picked up hanging on a tree. OMG what were they thinking