We Were Soldiers (2002)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 143
Fresh: 90 | Rotten: 53
The war cliches are laid on a bit thick, but the movie succeeds at putting a human face on soldiers of both sides in the Vietnam War.
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 11
The war cliches are laid on a bit thick, but the movie succeeds at putting a human face on soldiers of both sides in the Vietnam War.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 181,222
My Rating
Movie Info
Screenwriter Randall Wallace, a specialist in sweeping historical epics, steps behind the camera for this fact-based Vietnam War drama that reunites him with his Braveheart (1995) star Mel Gibson. Gibson is Lt. Col. Hal Moore, commander of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry, the same regiment fatefully led by George Armstrong Custer. As part of the Pleiku Campaign of late 1965, Moore is assigned to an action at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Drang Valley, an area that would come to be known as the
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Cast
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Mel Gibson
Lt. Col. Harold G. Moor... -
Sam Elliott
SGM Basil Plumley -
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Keri Russell
Barbara Geoghegan -
Madeleine Stowe
Julie Moore -
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Greg Kinnear
Major Bruce Crandall -
Blake Heron
Spec. 4 Galen Bungum -
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Barry Pepper
Joseph L. Galloway -
Don Duong
Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An -
Chris Klein
Lt. John L. Geoghegan -
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Robert Bagnell
1st Lt. Charlie Hasting... -
Josh Daugherty
Spec. 4 Bob Ouellette -
Jsu Garcia
Capt. Tony Nadal -
Erik MacArthur
Spec. 4 Russell Adams
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All Critics (166) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (93) | Rotten (53) | DVD (29)
Probably the best thing you can say about We Were Soldiers is that it does justice to an awful conflict.
Top CriticMakes you cry for the hundreds of thousands of men and women who died so pointlessly with Geoghegan. And their orphans.
As I settled into my World War II memories, I found myself strangely moved by even the corniest and most hackneyed contrivances.
After suffering through We Were Soldiers, I think I've seen all the war movies I care to endure for quite some time.
By comparison, Oliver Stone's Platoon plays like the experience of a sensibly outraged man worthy of our sympathy.
One of the most violent movies ever released.
The war genre, vigorously energized with Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, takes several steps backward with this old-fashioned moralistic saga, a tribute not only to the soldiers in combat in Vietnam but also to the homefront.
I was impressed by Wallace's emphasis of Moore's faith, but the violence struck me as excessive, taking valuable time that could have been used to develop characters.
... A fitting tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died for their country -- and for each other.
Gibson wears a rictus of distaste which seems more suggestive of dodgy on-set catering than the horrors of combat.
Mais uma patriotada que mostra os americanos matando milhares de vietcongues, mas sendo mais 'humanos' que os inimigos.
Ultimately, it staggers out bloodied, partially bowed, but at least not totally beaten.
...A gripping, fast-moving film that will be added to the short list of quality movies focused on the U.S. conflict in Vietnam.
Almost always competent, but never brilliant. Its textbook approach to moviemaking is so common in Hollywood war films that it can't be called new or enlightening.
Audience Reviews for We Were Soldiers
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore: This is where the metal meets the meat.
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- SGM Basil Plumley: What are you, the f*cking weatherman.
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- Major Bruce Crandall: To save innocent and vulnerable people by any means is not called a 'war' between two or more countries its called a genuine and good cause to be there.Americans did not loose a war, they did not surrender, they showed and left an example for other countries to reach for those in need, any day, any time any where in any circumstances, despite having any faith. That's a cause. A reason to live .
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- Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An: Those who are about to fight and die, I am grateful.
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- Joseph L. Galloway: [narrating] We who have seen war, will never stop seeing it. In the silence of the night, we will always hear the screams. So this is our story, for we were soldiers once, and young.
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- Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore: I will be the first man to walk on to the battlefield, and the last to walk off!
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