Movie Review: We Were Soldiers

We Were Soldiers (2002) 

Directed by Randall Wallace

Written by Randall Wallace

Starring Mel Gibson, Madeline Stowe, Sam Elliott, Greg Kinnear, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper

Release Date March 1st, 2002 

Published February 27th, 2002

I have been complaining that I'm tired of war movies, there are just too many of them. Their themes and characters are becoming clichés, and there doesn't seem to be anymore stories to tell. Well, I was wrong and We Were Soldiers showed me I was very wrong.

Mel Gibson stars as an army colonel who leads the first soldiers into Vietnam in 1965. Gibson is also a family man with 5 children and a wife played by Madeline Stow. The opening of the film is surprisingly strong introducing the characters and scenes which we've seen a thousand times; the soldier who tries to be funny, the soldier with the attitude problem, and of course the teary good-byes between husband and wives. We Were Soldiers avoids any more cliches by remaining focused on Gibson and his family, and merely introducing supporting players Chris Klein and his wife played by Felicity's Keri Russell.

The beginning is strong but the film really takes off once the soldiers arrive in Vietnam and are almost immediately dropped into a hot zone where French soldiers had been massacred by the North Vietnamese months before. These scenes are as violent and bloody as anything we've seen before and maybe louder the film's soundtrack. It was at times so loud that my seat shook as if it were rigged to do so. Once in the jungle, Gibson matches wits with a North Vietnamese colonel, but unlike your typical action movie it's not painted as a one-on-one match, but a strategic match between equally matched opponents.

Not many films have had the courage to show America's enemies as human beings but We Were Soldiers does show us North Vietnamese soldiers who aren't monsters but rather just like our guys. They were defending their country and they did so by any means necessary.

The film's supporting cast is strong, especially Barry Pepper. No stranger to great war movies, Pepper stars as the first journalist on the ground who quickly finds more action than he bargained for. Pepper's war photographer is not some cowboy out to break a big story, but a normal person in an extraordinary situation.

We Were Soldiers is not a unique film. We've seen some of this stuff before, scenes that appear in every war movie as if they were required by law. But Gibson, Pepper, Chris Klein and writer director Randall Wallace make even those seemingly clichéd moments ring true and make We Were Soldiers the first great film of 2002.

Movie Review Impostor

Impostor (2002) 

Directed by Gary Fleder 

Written by Caroline Case, Ehren Kruger, David Twohy

Starring Gary Sinise, Madeline Stowe, Vincent D'onofrio, Mekhi Phifer, Tony Shalhoub

Release Date January 4th, 2002 

Published January 3rd, 2002 

Four years ago, Dimension films began work on a science fiction film called The Light Years Trilogy. The film was to be 3 short films based on three separate Philip K. Dick stories. The project never fully came together though two of the three short films were produced. One of those was Impostor starring Gary Sinise and Vincent D'onofrio. The suits at Dimension liked the 30-minute version so much they ponied up the dough to turn it into a full-length feature.

They were better off with the half hour version.

Impostor takes place 75 years in the future, with Gary Sinise as scientist Spencer Oldham. Oldham is working on a top-secret weapon in the war against aliens called the Centaurians. Arriving at work after a weekend vacation, Spencer is arrested by the military police headed by Vincent D'onofrio. D'onofrio claims that Oldham is not who he appears, that he is in fact an alien cyborg with a bomb in his chest.\

In a scene reminiscent of the Salem Witch trials, Oldham is to be tied to an operating table while a laser drills into his chest. The theory is to get the bomb out and diffuse it. Essentially, if Spencer is an alien bomb they kill him and if he's not, the test will have proven he wasn't alien. Spencer will be dead but at least he's not an alien. Well of course Spencer escapes, there wouldn't be a move if he didn't, and thus begins a series of dull chase scenes through your typically post-apocalyptic cityscapes.

Sinise is well cast as is D'onofrio but they were likely better served in the original 30 minute version.

There are some interesting scenes in Impostor. For example, the first interrogation scene with D'onofrio questioning Oldham while his friends and coworkers look on has the feeling of a futuristic version of the 1950's communist witch hunts, and as I previously mentioned the Salem Witch trials. The ending does build some palpable suspense with a fun little twist.

But in the end, Impostor is, to paraphrase the band Sum 41, all filler no killer.