A War By Any Other Name, Still Kills.

Just arrived home from a theater excursion, where a friend and I witnessed the power that is We Were Soldiers the latest in a string of recent war movies, this one starring Mel Gibson. Going in I'd heard it compared to Black Hawk Down, but frankly I didn't see many similarities at all other than the obvious fighting factor, and the fact they were both true stories. However on the gruesome/violence scale, if you the previous one made you queasy, I highly suggest you avoid this one. The opening scene is an excellent litmus test, within about thirty seconds of the movie start you've seen a good sampling of what will take place for the remainder of the movie. Easily the most graphic film I've ever seen, and that's saying something. The only thing I can compare it to is the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. That said, I felt it was a very well done and extremely powerful movie. I guess advances in technology is what causes this one to go even further than previous gorefests when it comes to graphic realism. Plenty of slow motion deaths in this one, there were many a gasp in the theater from the soft hearted. This one didn't cause me to shed any tears, but I think that was mostly due to me being agape with awe at what was going on, amazed that someone experienced it in real life. As for a rating, I'm going to have to go with 6+ M's out of 7. Pretty hard to make it better than it was, or any more powerful, thought provoking, or mind boggling. It made an attempt to show the major battle involved from both sides, allowing us to get to know characters from the other side of the lines as well, largely the general of the opposing forces. This allowed for pivotal scenes when known characters from both sides would clash, causing the audience to feel the pain of whichever one came out on the short end, regardless of whether they were "good" or "bad." The acting was superior to most, I've always like Gibson in movies such as Braveheart and The Patriot, and this one is no different. Also some amazing supporting performances, that just contributed to the overall horror of the situation. Little tiny men making an effort to change the great big world, and not knowing whether they're treading water in quicksand.