Directed by:
Randall WallaceScreenplay:
Randall WallaceCinematography:
Dean SemlerComposer:
Nick Glennie-SmithCast:
Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper, Ryan Hurst, Robert Bagnell, Marc Blucas, Jsu Garcia (more)Plots(1)
Maximum Action, Maximum Drama! - We Were Soldiers is a powerful & bloody war movie based on a true story that moves at a heart-racing & ear-shattering pace! On Sunday November 14, 1965 at 10.48am, Lt. Col. Hal Moore (a magnificent performance by Mel Gibson) and his regiment of 400 men touch down at Landing Zone X-ray in the La Drang Valley, a place in Vietnam known as "The Valley Of Death". They find themselves surrounded by roughly 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers and the ensuing battle becomes one of the most savage in US history. (Icon Home Entertainment)
(more)Videos (1)
Reviews (9)
As long as Randall Wallace is attack in the mode of heroic soldiers who shoot, run, or die in slow motion, each shot or fall affects me so strongly that I started fumbling for a handkerchief surprisingly quickly. However, once the pleasant pathos starts to melt into words and endless diluted phrases about pride, wives, or dying for the homeland, the charm disappears. Then suddenly the sloppiness of the screenplay or the occasional visual routine starts to surface. If it weren't for the fact that Hal is literally tailored for Mel Gibson, who can take roles like this to the absolute maximum, the outcome would be a class lower.
()
Le Massacre... deserved a better screenplay. But leaving out a couple of things would have been enough. The introductory elimination of the French unit is great. So are the excellent battle scenes in the second half, they give that proper touch of reality and the burned, half-dead soldiers will make you feel pretty bad. The disparity with the utterly pathetic lines about dying proudly for one’s country is irritating. Much better movies have been made about Vietnam. Fix bayonets!
()
50 years behind Stone and 100 behind Coppola. A propaganda film with a blue-eyed hero and nickel-and-dime moralizing. Some of the action sequences are nice, but they are far away from building on the gems from the 70's and 80's. Incorrigible cinematography, which, after magnificent filmmaking with the idea of turning to the subject of war again, turns to cheap poses and pathos (although undoubtedly well-meaning).
()
A very respectable contribution to the genre that’s hindered only by the cheaply conceived visual form and by the overdone affectation (slow-motion shots). Otherwise, however, We Were Soldiers isn’t lacking in pacing or raw realism, or a firm foundation of thought, or a strong leading personality in the form of Mel Gibson, who is the best thing about the whole film.
()
As an average contribution to the war drama genre, it is quite solid. It has solidly shot war sequences that are raw and dynamic enough to draw the viewer into the story. Some moments are interesting, but unfortunately, the war theme itself fails to captivate on a deeper level, resulting in an average film where you can enjoy explosions and shootouts but will not be shocked by the horrors of war – except for a few shots like the face slicing, there is no such element. The excessive dosage of pathos, which awaits us towards the end (the slow-motion shots are very annoying), is also disappointing. Without any deeper thoughts, the whole thing is too superficial.
()
Gallery (87)
Photo © 2002 Paramount Pictures
![We Were Soldiers - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/161/939/161939271_eb50be.jpg)
Ads