What It Is: War movie about one of the most pointless battles of the Vietnam war.Why I Watched It: A sucker for Vietnam films, I hadn't seen it years and recalled it being one of the best.
What I Thought: It's one of the best Vietnam movies I know of!
There are a lot of damn good 'Nam movies. What makes Hamburger Hill so cool, aside from the awesome cast and exceptional performance by Courtney B. Vance, is the film's tight focus. We don't see the soldiers at home and we don't follow them through Basic Training or anything else. We just see a couple days leading up to the battle and the battle itself.
I think it's this focus that allows the movie to cover so much more than battle alone. We see the aloofness of the command structure, we see the mistreatment of new soldiers, we see further mistreatment by protesters at home. Hamburger Hill is as much about the politics of the Vietnam War as it is about the actual battle. And it portrays both with equal prowess.
Great fucking war movie!
Highlights: All the colorful 'Nam slang, a great cast, meaningful violence, good drama, profoundly pointless casualties, and kick ass monologue after kick ass monologue!
Who Should See It: History buffs and war movie fans.
How Soon: Anytime.
1 comment:
this is one of my all-time favorite military movies... right up there with Platoon, Apocalypse Now, and Bat 21.
Post a Comment