It was as though the director..

I agree, this is a very bad Vietnam War movie. The only character that was properly fleshed out was Mel Gibson, everyone else was basically just an extra. The movie was nothing but violence and when you don't have time to establish the characters or their backstory that makes the violence pretty meaningless. Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket even First Blood were better Vietnam movies than this.

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

I agree. This movie never felt right to me. Very weak introduction of the characters and too focused on Gibson's character to begin with. Also I did not like the camerawork and editing: too chaotic and no focus. You never know where you are in this movie. And unlike the classics in this genre there was never the feeling of danger and "being in the midst of it". The story reminds me a lot of the story of films like Platoon, Casualties of War and Hamburger Hill but it feels more generic and disconnected.

Btw: the director could have learned a thing or two from watching Black Hawk Down. The story of that movie also reminded me of We Were Soldiers but BHD has just about a perfect setup and execution of a similar concept. So it isn't that it is impossible to create a film with the same premise.

No it’s like he saw Black Hawk Down and was like “hey let’s make that exact same movie just swap out Somalia for Vietnam”