A right wing circle j***

Rating: 4/10 (22 November 2015)

First of all, there is no denying that this is an important story that should be told. The first conflict in the Vietnam debacle is modern history at its most intense. That being said...
The movie is a menagerie of complete awful. It fails on every level of filmmaking. The dialogue is farmed from the worst of John Wayne's WWII clichés. (Every word from Sam Elliot's mouth.) The directing is the worst example of film student pushiness. (The Barry Pepper photo montage.) The acting is so over the top that Al Pacino would be jealous. (Mel Gibson hamming it up in the role of Lt. Col. Hal Moore.) Even the FX are just amateur versions of Michael Bay movies.
However, Greg Kinnear shines as Maj. Bruce 'Snake' Crandall, the helicopter pilot in charge of coordinating flights in and out of the "hot zone". His hubris and humanity make up for more than a few of the more exploitative and under-developed characters.
There is more good and bad here. Needless flashbacks to home life. A bizarre tour inside the mind of the VC's Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An. Tantalizing moments of sheer horror in the midst of war. Hero stories.
In the end, I wanted this movie to be good. I wanted this important story to be told well but due to the incompetent directing and writing of Randall Wallace I was left feeling unsatisfied and cheated. If you want to see a remake of anything, it should probably be this movie.