mindless movie stuff

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?