MovieChat Forums > We Were Soldiers (2002) Discussion > It was as though the director..

It was as though the director..

posted 12 years ago by dosedhost
31 replies | jump to latest

saw the likes of Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Born on the fourth, etc etc and thought "I can do better that that".
He couldn't. This one one of the poorest Vietnam movies i've ever seen, despite the starry cast & lavish budget. An hour into it I was still wondering if i'd seen it before - I hadn't, I was just sitting through a rehash of all those above movies (and others).
Even the domestic scenes didn't provide relief, merely weighing it down with sentimental cliches. Nonsense from start to finish imo.

"Sister, when I've raised hell you'll know it"

[–] mjelliott9 12 years ago

Agreed. I'm trying to think of at least one other movie besides Pearl Harbor (by the same writer incidentally) that has as much unabashed, overblown melodrama. Maybe Armageddon?

[–] CGSailor 12 years ago

All you have accomplished with your post is to prove how ignorant you are of the reality.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CGSailor 12 years ago

Mugful, further proof of you being a troll. you cannot use the excuse of not knowing because you have already been corrected on "lamb basting" as being wrong.

And he did. because he was claiming the We were Soldiers was not realistic and was claiming that unrealistic films were realistic.

We were Soldiers was one of the very few Vietnam films that "got it right"
I'ts just that people like the OP grew up watching unrealistic Vietnam films and so their "standard" of what is or is not correct is skewed.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CGSailor 12 years ago

And your LOLing at everything is further proof.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CGSailor 11 years ago

That you claim that both those movies, This one and Blackhawk Down had "no story" shows you don't have a clue and any explanation I might try to give is a waste of my time.

BTW, My Brother lost a good friend during the Battle of Mogadishu, CWO Donovan Briley.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CGSailor 11 years ago

And by the way when I criticize these movies don't try to spin it so that it sounds like I am trying to show disrespect for the military

Well you see right there... the Story that you "Missed", not that it's not there... IS about the Military and respect, about their brothership and sacrifice.

And woooosh.... it all went right over your head.

The story is there.
YOU chose not to see it.

And then offer INSULTS like claiming it's not better than a Michael Bay Film (A deadly insult as Bay is a HACK Director)

Blackhawk Down tells the story of what happened in the Battle of Mogadishu, what our men went through and what they endured. That IS the story.

Same with We Were Soldiers.
What the Soldiers went through, how they fought and died and endured IS THE STORY.

I am purely speaking as a film critic...

You're a pretty piss poor film critic as you dismiss any story that doesn't fit your narrow view as non-existent.

The story is there. You're just being narrow-minded. You have intentionally placed blinders upon yourself and chose to see it only as nothing but action.
You choose not to see the story which is all about the soldier's sacrifice and belittle it as only nothing but action. So yeah.... maybe you don't realize it but by refusing to see the story about military sacrifice and dumbing it down to just action and no story, you ARE disrespecting the Military for whom the stories are all about.

Which is why I said it's a waste of time explaining to you and now I've wasted more than enough time on you.
Good Day.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CGSailor 11 years ago

Learn what a strawman is. I never claimed you have to like the film or else....
But claiming there is no story just because you choose not to see the story....

And whole you're at it...
Learn to spell sailor (not sailer)

Ignored from now on because even though you asked me specifically, you didn't give two sh!ts about what I had to say, you're just looking for a fight.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CGSailor 11 years ago

And by the way I'm not the one who misspelled "Sailor", I just replied.

Ah yes, my mistake there. That was my personal stalker troll TheGreatMoghul, His account was deleted by IMDB and now he's back under the name Grondig66.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

[–] leighburne 11 years ago

I read everything you said, unfortunately you contributed nothing of any meaningful intelligence. I'm with you man, I think the men portrayed in both movies were brave soldiers who gave their lives for their country, it's a shame that Hollywood decided to turn their sacrifice into a mindless action film.

Agreed. While I like the film for it's attention to detail and the main characters, overall it's thin on story. Americans go in, people get killed, Americans come out. There's nothing much there. The fact a lot of the supporting characters totally blurred together didn't help. Other than Gibson, Pepper, Elliot and Kinnear I struggled to tell most of the men apart, and as a result I couldn't really care about what happened to them.

Not to mention the film completely leaves out one of the most important events of the battle, when a second US battalion was almost completely annihilated at a neighbouring LZ. Instead they stuck in a flag-waving death-or-glory charge that didn't actually happen.

[–] The_Ultimate_Hippo 9 years ago

CGSailor, other than Hal Moore name three things about 2 other men in the platoon that came directly from the movie (you are not allowed to cite the book). While I'm at it do the same thing for Black Hawk Down, you once again are not allowed to cite the book, this has to come directly from the movie.

I mean we have Plumley and he's old I guess, we have the guy with the baby who had a baby and we have Savage who I guess is just young but shows leadership. That really isn't a whole lot of character development.

This movie is such a joke. It took the Brave Solider's sacrifice and love for country and reduced it to a mindless action film pretty much on the same level as Commando or Rambo III.

"I really wish Gia and Claire had became Tanner" - Honeybeefine

[–] Stirling00 10 years ago

Yup. The problem is the liars and propagandists (see: "Stone, Oliver" & "De Palma, Brian) wrote the first draft of cinematic history with their agitprop. When a film that comes out with the "It actually WASN'T drugged out draftees mowing down children, it was professional soldiers doing a very difficult job, with more success than failure." theme ignorant jackasses think THAT'S the lie!

[–] moviemasochism 12 years ago

This is just my point of view but it's also based on the book that inspired the movie and an interview I heard by Col Moore: unlike the movies you listed (except Born on the Fourth of July), We Were Soldiers was not a "Vietnam movie". Yes, the story was based on real events during Vietnam, but the focus was on the individual men (hence the "melodrama") and their respective families as well as the tactics used in this specific battle. This movie did as well as any (again, my opinion) to capture those specific aspects of the book. And whether you think that it didn't do those things well, which you didn't mention at all, is also a matter of opinion. However, this movie is probably more comparable to Letters from Iwo Jima than any of the films you listed. Platoon and Full Metal Jacket are barely in the same conversation except that they were the same war. You might as well had thrown in Good Morning, Vietnam and Forrest Gump on your list.

www.moviemasochism.com

[–] shamis-881-25789 11 years ago

Letters from iwo jima is a fantastic movie and in no way comparable to this movie.
Neither of the movies share anything with each ither except for the fact that both are about war. And that is pretty much the only similarity, except for that similarity, iwo jima is in every way different and leagues better than this movie.

Whether that difference be the acting, direction, story telling, basis/source of story, concerned war, cinematography, etc, all was way better handled in letters.

[–] shamis-881-25789 11 years ago

Agree with OP. this movie was the worst war movie i have seen after pearl harbor. Jus when i thought no one could make a worser war movie, someone did come close with this.

[–] Rabbit_with_a_Gun12 11 years ago

I think I understand why most of you didn't like this movie. About 99% of the movies that is based on Vietnam takes place in the deep jungle. This movie showed one battle that lasted three days, unlike most Nam movies where the enemy set up a ambush and run into the jungle. Born on the 4th of July and Full Metal Jacket and have the same feeling.

Your nobody until somebody kills you.

[–] drjettrink 11 years ago

"Worser"?

While you obviously don't think grammar and spelling matter when making a point, it does. You need to understand that it is impossible to separate the perception of how dumb someone must be to use a term like "worser" from the point they are trying to make.

In all seriousness mate, improve your english-language skills and your life will improve as well. I promise.

[–] shamis-881-25789 9 years ago

why would my life improve with better english
you are quite retarded to say that
more than 50% of the world doesnt speak english
i find it funny when people have no real comeback and they turn into grammar nazis to prove their loss of point, lol
anyways, english is not my first language, infact its the 4th language i learnt
Do you even know 4 languages? haha.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] revsolly 10 years ago

The battle of Ia Drang IS the story. It tells of the first full engagement between U.S. Forces and the VC/NVA regulars. It shows how these men fought as family, living and dying FOR each other. It told of a commander who looked after his men as he would his children, and dreaded the loss of every man killed in that battle. It also showed how the survivors of this conflict felt guilt at having survived, while so many of their friends did not.

It showed the true horror of war, yet the necessity, at times.

Finally, it showed the toll on those who waited at home, and the horror they had to endure, waiting for that telegram to come to THEIR front door. It showed how the commander's wife became the mother hen for the other wives, feeling their loss with each telegram.

Obamunism: The end of the Republic.
At times like these, I really hate being right!

[–] LJTweed 9 years ago

I agree. This is an important point in American history. It doesn't change the fact that this movie was poorly made.

[–] rtodd110 10 years ago

Disagree

[–] tmanqz 10 years ago

100% disagree with the op.