Review of We Were Soldiers (2002) by Dale A — 24 Aug 2009

A solid war movie, plenty of limbs flying and blood. The scenes between the violence, the first news of casualities for the soldiers wives were particularly powerful. However for me, the Vietcong let the film down. Of course there is safety in numbers but running toward an enemy without cover isn't the best of ideas, and they were doing this far too often which detracted from the realism. Both the acting and soundtrack are great, but the film never fully recovered from a Rambo style war.

The film is based on true events however and it does deliver the message that Vietnam was truely a tragic war, with mention of the actual men who lost their lives from the company depicted onscreen.

Not as realistic as Saving Private Ryan, nor as powerful as Letters from Iwo Jima.