We Were Soldiers 2002

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: Indeed, while the battle scenes aspire to the grisly ferocity of Saving Private Ryan, this war saga often elicits as many howls of laughter as growls of anguish. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: It is something of a tribute to Wallace the director that the shamelessness of Wallace the screenwriter doesn't sabotage this mission altogether. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: The battle sequences in We Were Soldiers aren't quite as head-spinning as in Black Hawk Down -- but this film does a much better job of establishing the characters before they plunge into battle. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The film succeeds as an homage to human spirit in the most shattering of circumstances. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Probably the best thing you can say about We Were Soldiers is that it does justice to an awful conflict. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Like the best war movies -- and like martial literature going back to the Iliad -- it balances the dreadful, unassuageable cruelty of warfare and the valor and decency of those who fight. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: At its best, it's Black Hawk Down with more heart. At its worst, it's Rambo- meets-John Ford. Read more

Eli Sanders, Seattle Times: The film feels formulaic, its plot and pacing typical Hollywood war-movie stuff, while the performances elicit more of a sense of deja vu than awe. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: These men deserve a medal, but their movie could use a rewrite. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It's unfortunate that Wallace, who wrote Gibson's Braveheart as well as the recent Pearl Harbor, has such an irrepressible passion for sappy situations and dialogue. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: We Were Soldiers is embarrassingly inept, but it has the kind of ponderousness and serious air (not to mention the ability to wring tears) that can fool people. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: Gibson is exceptional here in the leading role of Moore ... Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: Yet, lest one think Soldiers is rousing, be forewarned. It is patriotic in that it is loyal to its American soldiers, although it is surprisingly respectful to their enemy. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The writer-director bestows honor -- generously, apolitically -- not only on the dead and still living American veterans who fought in Ia Drang, but also on their families, on their Vietnamese adversaries, and on the families of their adversaries too. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Though it falls short, it's an ambitious movie that ranges from intense peaks to embarrassing lows. Read more

Manohla Dargis, L.A. Weekly: The Vietnam setting looks authentic enough, but the action is as inert and unpersuasive as Gibson's attempt to fashion Bill Mauldin poetry out of his $20-million-plus smirk. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Wallace has fashioned a gung-ho piece of conventional entertainment that would have been a natural fit for John Wayne but today feels a bit too naive for its own good. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: As I settled into my World War II memories, I found myself strangely moved by even the corniest and most hackneyed contrivances. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: We Were Soldiers' battle action is as intense and unsparing as that of Black Hawk Down, yet the movie is richer because the characters are more fully realized. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: For much of its length, the movie consists of battle scenes. They are not as lucid and easy to follow as the events in 'Black Hawk Down,' but then the terrain is different, the canvas is larger, and there are no eyes in the sky to track troop movements. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Mel Gibson fights the good fight in Vietnam in director Randall Wallace's flag-waving war flick with a core of decency. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: ... one of the best war movies of the past 20 years. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: Makes you cry for the hundreds of thousands of men and women who died so pointlessly with Geoghegan. And their orphans. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Even those stout hearts who managed to sit through the gore of Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down will likely find it difficult to watch scenes such as the one where a soldier's face is burned away by a phosphorus grenade. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: ... the first film in recent memory that a major studio has chosen to release early in the year with palpable filmmaking passion and production heft. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: By comparison, Oliver Stone's Platoon plays like the experience of a sensibly outraged man worthy of our sympathy. Read more