Good popcorn movie

Rating: 6/10 (11 March 2002)

There were a couple moments in this film that elicited claps and cheers from the audience. That's a good popcorn movie. Personally, I thought there was only one thing that stood out about this film when compared to other 'Nam flicks and that was its look at military tactics. I was impressed by the way they showed us the strategies used by both sides. What really suffered in this film, though, were the characters. They were your typical, cliched group and the same old cliched things happened to them. I mean, how many times in a war movie (especially a 'Nam flick) have you seen a soldier, in the heat of battle, pick up a wounded soldier and try to carry him to safety? Especially one that is so wounded he can't walk, so his buddy throws him across his shoulders to carry him? This happened at least twice in the film. I guess this is a POSSIBLE SPOILER (especially if this is your first 'Nam flick), but too many times to count, new characters are introduced during the battle only to die moments later. They are given enough dialogue to try and make us see that they are nice, patriotic guys with someone back home waiting for them. Then they are gone. Of course, one could argue that that's a reflection of how it probably was over there, guys speak for the first time, then the next thing they knew the guy they just spoke with was shot down, they were under such heavy fire. The performances were good, but I do question the casting of Mel Gibson. There were moments in the film that I think he went at the part wrong.
This wasn't the best movie about Vietnam, but not the worst, either.