mindless movie stuff

[lookingland]

long overdue for a movie review. i've been watching a lot of tv on dvd lately (more on that later). but last night i watched We were Soldiers.

i had put off watching this a long time because i still haven't forgiven mel gibson for The Patriot, which i thought was dreadful. mel's hit or miss with me in general. this one's mostly miss as well.

action: four stars. they spared no expense on the exploding blood bags and pyrotechnics. great stuff for people who like to see things blow up (yes, that would be me).

plot: pretty weak. lots of recycled combat tropes. premise was rather dull.

character development: i didn't buy mel as a lt. colonel for a moment. nep. the rest of the cast was mostly forgettable. barry pepper as a journalist was wasted. madeleine stowe was pretty (as always), but didn't get to do much.

music: decent score. overwrought, but appropriate i guess.

cheese-factor: high. some bad directing choices, lots of gratuitous slo-mo.

sam elliot: five stars (just for showing up ~ and for having the few good lines).

extra points: for not playing "Gary Owen" even though it was about the 7th Cavalry.

overall rating: moderately entertaining. typical, melodramatic viet nam fare. you won't really miss anything if you skip it.



steak: who cares about white meat?

Comments

[utter-scoundrel.livejournal.com]

My dad served in Vietnam, so he's pretty critical about the movies that "portray" the war. He's pretty much disliked each and every one of them except the first half of Full Metal Jacket which, of course, isn't set in Vietnam (and at one point he'd been a drill sergeant). But when he saw this he felt they'd finally gotten it right. Or at least the action sequences. Apparently, he had to look away because they were too realistic.

My mom, of course, loved it because she's a big Sam Elliot fan too.

I couldn't stand the army wife subplot myself. Another reason the Chapter Skip button was invented on the remote...

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i give it props for the combat stuff ~ everything else was just bleh and dull. i agree the army wife sub was just chick filler.

your dad's reaction is very interesting.