We Were Soldiers - A Review 03/03/2002
I'll cut right to the chase: this is a powerful, impacting movie, and if you are a fan of war movies you should see it. Period. If you are a fan of well thought-out, realistic and technically accurate movie making, then go see it. Now, having said that, I'll throw out a couple of warnings: there is almost a continuous string of combat sequences for the last 3/4ths of this movie. The film contains LOTS of blood flying, but contains only one "seconds-quick" scene and one longer scene of disturbing gore. I'll get back to these in a bit. This movie is NOT for under-13 kids and those adults of "heightened sensibilities".
The movie is based on Lt. Gen. Harold Moore and journalist Joe Galloway's book We Were Soldiers Once … And Young. Both men were present at the events shown in the movie so the audience is getting the real deal here. I haven't read their book, but that is going to change as soon as I can get to a book store today. If the book is anything like the movie it should be a knock-out!
The premise is: In November of 1965, 400 soldiers of the newly formed 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry air assault unit of the US Army are helicopter-dropped into the Ia Drang valley in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. They are immediately in contact with and eventually surrounded by 2000+ North Vietnamese Regulars of the 66th Regiment of the Peoples Army of Vietnam. Historical note: this is the first major battle between the US Army and the NVA. This movie not only looks at the battle itself, but it also shows the impact on the families of the combatants through shots of life back home with the wives and children. The film does attempt on occasion to personalize, mainly via facial expressions, the thoughts and feelings of the unnamed soldiers on both sides. This may well be from (then) Lt. Col. Moore or Galloway as they could see the expressions and feel the tensions of the men involved. It is a small but nice touch.
Detail-wise I was impressed - several things immediately jumped out. The helicopters used were the single-turbine Hueys available at the time and not the twin-turbine models used in other movies about Vietnam, and the M-16's used by the American troops had the original triangular forestock with the ventilation holes in the top and not the rounded forestocks of the newer versions. For you warbird nuts like me, they found a for-real flying Douglass A-1 Skyraider (aka Sandy) or two and they are used in several of the close-air-support scenes! These are truly awesome shots of the A-1. One shot is coming straight in at you and the Skyraider has to climb to get OVER a tree! Wow!
The video hops around a bit on a couple of levels. The settings range from Ft. Benning, Georgia where the Air Cav trained to Vietnam, from full daylight to darkest night, from outdoors to indoors to the inside of the caves the NVA used. Some of the daylight shots are grainy and somewhat monochromatic, ala Saving Private Ryan and Blackhawk Down. Most shots are conventional and well framed and the overall coloration appears good except for the afore-mentioned shots. There are several night scenes that range from showing a single face in a totally dark field to the multiple blue-white shades of combat illuminated by flares. Oh, another detail is one of changing colors: at the start the battlefield is full of greens and browns as nature would have it, but by the end, after three days of wholesale combat, the entire area is a mangled, brownish gray moonscape.
This is another candidate for "active soundfield of the year". The audio portion of the film is clear, clean and full of helicopter fly-overs, assault rifles, artillery, strafing runs, napalm strikes (serious bass warning!), bullets flying around, you name it. . . . Amidst all of this the dialog was intelligible and overall not masked by the combat going on around the soldiers mainly because the conversations were held during lulls in the fighting. I can't wait to hear this one at home through 6.1!
Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon, Mad Max, What Women Want) continues to be on of my favorite actors and his portrayal of Hal Moore is at the same of a hard man and of a gentle man - it's a fine line to walk. I will say that if Hal Moore is true to the person Gibson portrays, then he's the perfect father, husband and soldier and there are very very few people like him. There are several excellent supporting performances in this film. Notably, Greg Kinnear(As Good As It Gets, You've Got Mail) as Major Bruce Crandall the lead chopper pilot, Madeline Stowe (The General's Daughter, 12 Monkeys, Last Of The Mohicans) as Julie Moore - Hal's wife, Sam Elliot (Big Lebowski, Tombstone, Gettysburg) as Sgt. Major Basil Plumley (who has the best line of the film - it's about grandfathers). Special mention needs to be made about Barry Pepper (61*, The Green Mile, Saving Private Ryan) who portrays Joe Galloway the combat photographer as he undergoes a sea-change from cameraman to warrior as things get bad and his choices become fight or die. As in Blackhawk Down you meet many characters at a fast pace and it is hard to individualize them all.
The movie starts out 11 years before (1954) with a patrol of French soldiers in the Ia Drang valley. Their reception is as unfriendly as it is thorough. Skip ahead 10 years - the Cav is transitioning to the Air Cav. Lt. Col. Moore is asked to develop the first Air Cav battalion. Basically trading-in his "horses" for helicopters - specifically the UH-1 Iriquois (Huey). At that point he and his staff start developing the combat tactics and training program to be used with their newest horse. On an interesting note their regiment is re-designated as the 7th Cavalry (the same commanded by General George Armstrong Custer at Little Big Horn) just before they are to leave for Vietnam. Is this a precursor of their fate? Only time will tell. Before leaving for Vietnam with his green force, Moore extensively studies the Vietnamese and their tactics. His realization that they will be facing a tough veteran army with 20 years of combat experience only reinforces his disquite which is slowly transferred to his wife. The early portion of the film goes into the relationships of Moore and some of his men and their families. It shows how the wives band together in a support group and how losses affect them. It shows the unpreparedness of the Army as after battle is joined, they have so many casualties so fast, cab drivers are forced to deliver the "telegrams" to the families of the soldiers. As long as I'm using the spoiler tags, the two scenes of gore are white phosphorous burning the face of a US soldier and a buddy trying to get it by digging in his cheek with a bayonet - that one is only seconds long - and the second is of a soldier who is badly burned in a napalm strike - half of his face is charred and shown in a close-up, and when a soldier picks him up by the legs, his outer layers of skin fall off - this is a 30-second or so scene. This movie points out the heroism on both sides of the battle, more so on the US side with many different tales but also on the NVA side a young NVA intellectual working up the nerve for a bayonet charge. There is a little flag waving in spots but nothing to detract from the film in any way. Again as in Blackhawk Down the rule of "leave no man behind" is front and center in the story-telling.
Yes, I did like this movie a lot. I recommend it with only the reservations about sustained violence and some "minimal gore". If you are into a technically superior shootem' up you'll be in for a real ride. If you are into stories of heroism and sacrifice, and a touch of what happens back home, you'll be in for a good but sad tale. On a 1 to 10 scale, I give We Were Soldiers a 9.
This, as always, is just my 2 cents.
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker
I'll cut right to the chase: this is a powerful, impacting movie, and if you are a fan of war movies you should see it. Period. If you are a fan of well thought-out, realistic and technically accurate movie making, then go see it. Now, having said that, I'll throw out a couple of warnings: there is almost a continuous string of combat sequences for the last 3/4ths of this movie. The film contains LOTS of blood flying, but contains only one "seconds-quick" scene and one longer scene of disturbing gore. I'll get back to these in a bit. This movie is NOT for under-13 kids and those adults of "heightened sensibilities".
The movie is based on Lt. Gen. Harold Moore and journalist Joe Galloway's book We Were Soldiers Once … And Young. Both men were present at the events shown in the movie so the audience is getting the real deal here. I haven't read their book, but that is going to change as soon as I can get to a book store today. If the book is anything like the movie it should be a knock-out!
The premise is: In November of 1965, 400 soldiers of the newly formed 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry air assault unit of the US Army are helicopter-dropped into the Ia Drang valley in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. They are immediately in contact with and eventually surrounded by 2000+ North Vietnamese Regulars of the 66th Regiment of the Peoples Army of Vietnam. Historical note: this is the first major battle between the US Army and the NVA. This movie not only looks at the battle itself, but it also shows the impact on the families of the combatants through shots of life back home with the wives and children. The film does attempt on occasion to personalize, mainly via facial expressions, the thoughts and feelings of the unnamed soldiers on both sides. This may well be from (then) Lt. Col. Moore or Galloway as they could see the expressions and feel the tensions of the men involved. It is a small but nice touch.
Detail-wise I was impressed - several things immediately jumped out. The helicopters used were the single-turbine Hueys available at the time and not the twin-turbine models used in other movies about Vietnam, and the M-16's used by the American troops had the original triangular forestock with the ventilation holes in the top and not the rounded forestocks of the newer versions. For you warbird nuts like me, they found a for-real flying Douglass A-1 Skyraider (aka Sandy) or two and they are used in several of the close-air-support scenes! These are truly awesome shots of the A-1. One shot is coming straight in at you and the Skyraider has to climb to get OVER a tree! Wow!
The video hops around a bit on a couple of levels. The settings range from Ft. Benning, Georgia where the Air Cav trained to Vietnam, from full daylight to darkest night, from outdoors to indoors to the inside of the caves the NVA used. Some of the daylight shots are grainy and somewhat monochromatic, ala Saving Private Ryan and Blackhawk Down. Most shots are conventional and well framed and the overall coloration appears good except for the afore-mentioned shots. There are several night scenes that range from showing a single face in a totally dark field to the multiple blue-white shades of combat illuminated by flares. Oh, another detail is one of changing colors: at the start the battlefield is full of greens and browns as nature would have it, but by the end, after three days of wholesale combat, the entire area is a mangled, brownish gray moonscape.
This is another candidate for "active soundfield of the year". The audio portion of the film is clear, clean and full of helicopter fly-overs, assault rifles, artillery, strafing runs, napalm strikes (serious bass warning!), bullets flying around, you name it. . . . Amidst all of this the dialog was intelligible and overall not masked by the combat going on around the soldiers mainly because the conversations were held during lulls in the fighting. I can't wait to hear this one at home through 6.1!
Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon, Mad Max, What Women Want) continues to be on of my favorite actors and his portrayal of Hal Moore is at the same of a hard man and of a gentle man - it's a fine line to walk. I will say that if Hal Moore is true to the person Gibson portrays, then he's the perfect father, husband and soldier and there are very very few people like him. There are several excellent supporting performances in this film. Notably, Greg Kinnear(As Good As It Gets, You've Got Mail) as Major Bruce Crandall the lead chopper pilot, Madeline Stowe (The General's Daughter, 12 Monkeys, Last Of The Mohicans) as Julie Moore - Hal's wife, Sam Elliot (Big Lebowski, Tombstone, Gettysburg) as Sgt. Major Basil Plumley (who has the best line of the film - it's about grandfathers). Special mention needs to be made about Barry Pepper (61*, The Green Mile, Saving Private Ryan) who portrays Joe Galloway the combat photographer as he undergoes a sea-change from cameraman to warrior as things get bad and his choices become fight or die. As in Blackhawk Down you meet many characters at a fast pace and it is hard to individualize them all.
The movie starts out 11 years before (1954) with a patrol of French soldiers in the Ia Drang valley. Their reception is as unfriendly as it is thorough. Skip ahead 10 years - the Cav is transitioning to the Air Cav. Lt. Col. Moore is asked to develop the first Air Cav battalion. Basically trading-in his "horses" for helicopters - specifically the UH-1 Iriquois (Huey). At that point he and his staff start developing the combat tactics and training program to be used with their newest horse. On an interesting note their regiment is re-designated as the 7th Cavalry (the same commanded by General George Armstrong Custer at Little Big Horn) just before they are to leave for Vietnam. Is this a precursor of their fate? Only time will tell. Before leaving for Vietnam with his green force, Moore extensively studies the Vietnamese and their tactics. His realization that they will be facing a tough veteran army with 20 years of combat experience only reinforces his disquite which is slowly transferred to his wife. The early portion of the film goes into the relationships of Moore and some of his men and their families. It shows how the wives band together in a support group and how losses affect them. It shows the unpreparedness of the Army as after battle is joined, they have so many casualties so fast, cab drivers are forced to deliver the "telegrams" to the families of the soldiers. As long as I'm using the spoiler tags, the two scenes of gore are white phosphorous burning the face of a US soldier and a buddy trying to get it by digging in his cheek with a bayonet - that one is only seconds long - and the second is of a soldier who is badly burned in a napalm strike - half of his face is charred and shown in a close-up, and when a soldier picks him up by the legs, his outer layers of skin fall off - this is a 30-second or so scene. This movie points out the heroism on both sides of the battle, more so on the US side with many different tales but also on the NVA side a young NVA intellectual working up the nerve for a bayonet charge. There is a little flag waving in spots but nothing to detract from the film in any way. Again as in Blackhawk Down the rule of "leave no man behind" is front and center in the story-telling.
Yes, I did like this movie a lot. I recommend it with only the reservations about sustained violence and some "minimal gore". If you are into a technically superior shootem' up you'll be in for a real ride. If you are into stories of heroism and sacrifice, and a touch of what happens back home, you'll be in for a good but sad tale. On a 1 to 10 scale, I give We Were Soldiers a 9.
This, as always, is just my 2 cents.
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker
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