We Were Soldiers Once... and Young by Harold G. Moore

Rotten Tomatoes' consensus boasts that the 'war clichs are laid on a bit thick', but, in my opinion, they would be greater were it not for some potentially refreshing elements that, as cruel irony would have it, also make it all the more difficult to ignore the genericisms which do stand, and firm I might add, cheesing a few things up with clichéd dialogue and character types, and further retarding dramatic momentum by establishing a sense of predictability. Quite frankly, among the most extreme issues with this film is sentimentality that is sometimes surprisingly overbearing with its abused of thematic visuals and near-cloying scoring in order to craft abrasive moments in tone which range from unnerving to almost embarrassingly sappy, and are made all the more aggravating from a trite sense which derives from formulaic storytelling.

Well, I exaggerate the degree to which this film dries up when Randall Wallace's storytelling dips both into thoughtfulness and in material, but make no mistake, there are some surprisingly limp slow spells here which really defuse momentum through a certain, sometimes almost dull tonal chilling which is all too often broken by extremes. or seeing someone else's face get blown off, for although the film is decent, excitement is not too much more limited than censorship here. Now that is one pretty lady, and I wish there was a little more of her here, because things get a little dull when we're not seeing her face. and Young', because it's awkward enough when you take out of account that Sam Elliott has pretty much never been young, and that Madeleine Stowe will probably never get old. I'm at least glad that they trimmed down the novel's title of 'We Were Soldiers Once. If anyone knows how to be patriotic and violent at the same time, it's Mel Gibson, so I'm going to go ahead and call bull on the title saying that he and his buddies 'were' soldiers, because Gibson shan't retire his career in the movie military until he's in an Australian war film.

Well, actually, I'd expect William Wallace in 'Nam to be less brutal than 'Braveheart', because Mel Gibson seems to have a greater taste for war gore as a filmmaker than anyone, as you can tell by the war films she chooses to act in, alone.

William Wallace is back, and this time, he's taking on Vietnam, y'all! I joke but this film is co-produced, directed and written by Randall Wallace, who actually wrote 'Braveheart', but just wrote, so here, he can really bring life to his bloody set pieces. until you cross him, at which point, he'll show you just how much heart you have, literally. It's 'Braveheart II', or 'The Patriot II', or something, because this is Mel Gibson back to being a man of honor and heart.

We Were Soldiers Once... and Young by Harold G. Moore