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

[lanyn.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks for a review of this one! This was one of those I thought I might either enjoy or be seriously annoyed with, but it didn't have enough going for it in my book to find out, so I just ended up skipping. Now I think I'll go on skipping. Vietnam movies don't cut it for me like WWII movies anyway.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i feel the same way ~ though wwii often doesn't do a whole lot for me either.

i like swords, horses, and mustaches too much ~ hahahahaha.

: D

[lanyn.livejournal.com]

Hee, and I like my Thompsons and B.A.R.s and Shermans and Panthers and jeeps. And all moustaches should be shaved! LOL! Course, that's probably because every one of my favorite actors happens to look ridiculous in moustaches. Now scruff... that's another thing entirely. :-D

Swords and horses though.... mmmmmmm.

It's funny, cuz I just had an email from a stranger who found my Combat! website, and he wanted to let me know how much he enjoyed the site, but he said didn't know girls liked that kind of thing. Made me smile.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i got the same reaction from someone whose jaw dropped because i said i read Rifles for Watie when i was a kid.

sheesh. men.

if they just didn't look so good in uniforms...

: D

[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.

eeeee

[(Anonymous)]

Mel Gibson and Viet Nam are both "no" s for me.

But Sam Elliot (even sans mustache) is a very nice thing. :x
I was recently wondering what had become of him.

moo

[akirad.livejournal.com]

I agree about Gibson. My problem with him is he just looks like an actor playing a soldier. I think he's forgotten how to stop being a "star".

Although to be honest, I'm struggling to remember anything I liked *him* do since the original Mad Max. I'm sure something will come to me. Um....

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

Never did see this movie and this review doesn't make me feel like running on out and renting it either. I have the book though and it's somewhere down on my reading list. Thanks for saving me two hours of my life!!!!

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

you're welcome!

: D

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i didn't hate him in Braveheart i guess. silly as that movie was ~ it was still a fine action flick.

: D

Re: eeeee

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

he's been around a lot actually ~ can't think of anything off the top of my head, but i know he's in the new Ghost Rider movie.

: D