STARS: MEL GIBSON, MADELEINE STOWE, GREG KINNEAR, SAM ELLIOTT, CHRIS KLEIN, KERI RUSSELL, BARRY PEPPER, DON DUONG, RYAN HURST

This is the true story of the battle that took place in November 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam where 80 American soldiers lost their lives.

The movie starts with a bang (literally) as we are given an insight into the North Vietnamese who slaughtered a French battalion in the hopes of driving out all foreign influences in the country.

11 Years later it has been decided to try a somewhat unorthodox (at the time) battle technique by landing the troops by helicopter into the battle field. The obvious choice to lead the squad is Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) who after serving in Korea has been testing experimental parachutes.

Moore and his second in command Sgt. Major Plumley (Sam Elliott) are given the task of preparing their new recruits for the horror they are about to face. We also see the families behind these soldiers and their lives on the army base. Soon enough the soldiers are dropped into the live warzone, and it is here that the movie really begins to take off.

The battle scenes are very well done and provide a sense of the confusion and fear that all soldiers must face on the battle field. The cinematography and the special effects combine well to portray the battle scenes and are the highlight of the movie.

A somewhat crude attempt is made to humanise the enemy by featuring the North Vietnamese Colonel in charge of the troops going up against the American forces (Don Duong). They also attempt to make it a personal battle of tactics between the two Colonels and of course Colonel Moore knows exactly what Colonel An has in store.

Almost hopelessly sentimental, this film has producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pearl Harbour) stamped all over it but his name is nowhere to be seen. Modern war films have tended to be a little more colder and realistic than We Were Soldiers. This is not necessarily a criticism but it does paint a romantic view of the American troops as the underdogs.

Mel Gibson is overly heroic in his portrayal of Col. Moore and the results are sometimes over the top to the point of being corny. Overly heroic seems to be a theme in this movie, perhaps as a mark of respect to those who lost their life in the real life events. The scenes with the wives and the families try to force the idea of the heroics of these men who go into battle and are unnecessary to get the point across.

THE EXTRAS

Deleted Scenes: 10 scenes with optional directors commentary, most of the scenes try to provide additional back story to the characters, although none of these scenes add anything to the film. Of course the director hated to cut any of the scenes and loved all of the performances of these deleted scenes.

Getting It Right: A 25 minute feature on the real life Hal Moore who led the troops into battle and how they translated his story into the movie. Includes file footage from 1965 and current day interviews with Col Moore and other surviving soldiers from the battle, Mel Gibson, the director and other behind the scenes personnel.

Theatrical trailers, TV spots and Radio Spots

Audio Commentary with Director Randall Wallace:: An informative commentary from the director who also co-wrote the screenplay and was able to give an insight into both the pre production and production stages of the filming. As per usual the director gushes over the cast and crew, in particular Mel Gibson with whom he worked with on Braveheart.

CONCLUSION

A film with the potential to be so much more than it is, plenty of disparate elements were reflected in this film which told the battle from a multitude of perspectives. Unfortunately, these elements never come together to paint a realistic story.