We Were Soldiers [HD DVD]

We Were Soldiers [HD DVD]
by Randall Wallace

We Were Soldiers [HD DVD]
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Chris Klein, Greg Kinnear, Madeleine Stowe, Mel Gibson, Sam Elliott
Director: Randall Wallace
Brand: Paramount
Writer: Randall Wallace
Producer: Arne Schmidt
Producer: Bruce Davey
Producer: Danielle Lemmon Zapotoczny
Producer: Eveleen Bandy
Writer: Harold G. Moore
Writer: Joseph L. Galloway
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 138 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment

Movie Reviews of We Were Soldiers [HD DVD]

Movie Review: Irresistibly watchable
Summary: 5 Stars

Well it is Mel all right; he started getting gung ho with whit "Brave heart" hand has been gearing up ever since. The only problem I have with this movie is I can not figure out what he has to say even when he tells you. With the probable exception of "All Quiet on the Western front", most war movies just use war as a back drop to their main purpose as in "Apocalypse Now" (an updated "Hart of Darkness"). This movie has the look and feel of an updated "Green Berets" Pluck out John Wayne and plug in Mel.

We know the base story is of the stand off of the NVA at Ia Drang November 1965 against overwhelming odds, with a little help of superior technology. The uniforms and equipment look pretty authentic. The terrain was well done also; it could be the real thing as much as California. Not all of Vietnam is swamp.

Even though there is a lot of action (more phosphorus than C4) this is not just a shootemup movie. They also focused on the wives back home, showing how they had to cope with the situation. There were also some cursory sub stories as a combat photographer getting more than he expected.

I have the same conundrum as others do that have not been there. The Vietnam I was in (67-68) had a few firefights; but most of the time it was our spies against their spies and there was no front. When we tangled both sides lost an even average of 15% but if you could find them and drop something on them you got your 15% from a safe distance. I was in the special reactionaries and trained for just the situation this movie depicts. I was the RTO and was supposed to fight out and retake the base to not let the NVA get a foot hold. However it never came.

One thing you can say about this movie is that you will get involved and almost forget that it is a movie.

Summary of We Were Soldiers [HD DVD]

The year is 1965 and America is at war with North Vietnam. Commanding the air cavalry is Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Gibson), a born leader committed to his troops. His target: the la Drang Valley, called "The Valley of Death." As Moore prepares for one of the most violent battles in U.S. history, he delivers a stirring promise to his soldiers and their families: "I will leave no man behind...dead or alive. We will all come home together."
Based on the book by Lt. Col. Harold Moore (ret.) and journalist Joseph Galloway, We Were Soldiers offers a dignified reminder that the Vietnam War yielded its own crop of American heroes. Departing from Hollywood's typically cynical treatment of the war, writer-director Randall Wallace focuses on the first engagement of American soldiers with the North Vietnamese enemy in November 1965. Moore (played with colorful nuance by Mel Gibson) and nearly 400 inexperienced troopers from the U.S. Air Cavalry were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese Army soldiers, and the film re-creates this brutal firefight with graphic authenticity, while telling the parallel story of grieving army wives back home. While UPI reporter Galloway (Barry Pepper) risks his life to chronicle the battle, Wallace offers a balanced (though somewhat fictionalized) perspective while eliciting laudable performances from an excellent cast. Like the best World War II dramas of the 1940s, We Were Soldiers pays tribute to brave men while avoiding the pitfalls of propaganda. --Jeff Shannon
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