Just a couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to read a letter sent in by a reader who felt I completely missed the boat on Black Hawk Down. He loved the film and perceived it in a completely different way than I did. He even went on to ask if I actually saw the movie. Well, I did see the movie. Twice in fact. And while Black Hawk Down isn't without moments of power, my complaints remain the same. As a whole, I didn't find the movie insightful in it's depiction of the problem in Somalia, and found it's lack of character extremely frustrating.

For me, We Were Soldiers succeeds where Black Hawk Down fails. Sure, the Mel Gibson Vietnam epic does have moments that are overly melodramatic, and this movie also has some key characters that are not fully realized. But in the end, I wasn't just exhausted by We Were Soldiers, I was also moved. Now it could be argued that Black Hawk Down was about a situation, and We Were Soldiers is about the characters in a situation. The fact of the matter is, that as a movie experience, I found We Were Soldiers to be more powerful in it's depiction of normal men being plunged into a hellish situation.

Based on a true story, We Were Soldiers features Gibson as Lt. Col. Hal Moore, a soldier/family man given the task of leading his men into one of the most infamous and bloody battles during the Vietnam War. Although Moore and his crew are well versed in the tactics of battle, it seems they have greatly underestimated the enemy.

The first act of We Were Soldiers has it's fair share of clich s, as we are introduced to the numerous men that will be lead into battle. We also get a glimpse into the lives of the soldiers' wives. Moments of this picture certainly have an old fashioned war film sensibility. However, Vietnam was a entirely different era, and this set up makes all the difference in the world.

When Moore and his men land on the battle field, We Were Soldiers turns into one of the most gut wrenching war movies ever. This movie is harrowing, violent and relentless, giving not only a look at U.S. military tactics, but a respectable and sympathetic look at the enemy as well. We Were Soldiers is also the first war film in recent memory that show how the wives stuck together as well.

Aside from of obvious clich s, I was bothered by a couple of rather trivial things in We Were Soldiers. I wasn't impressed by the locations in which they shot the battle sequences. It appeared that they were filmed somewhere in the states rather then in Vietnam. I was also bothered by Madeline Stowe's appearance as Moore's wife. Her performance is quite effective, but what in God's name did she do to her lips. I thought I was looking at Barbara Hershey for a moment. While this seems like a pointless and out of place stab at the actress, I found it very distracting. It's really sad to me that she felt compelled to do that to herself.

We Were Soldiers was written and directed by Randall Wallace, the screenwriter behind Braveheart (as well as the painfully dull Pearl Harbor). This far succeeds the goings on in his directorial debut, the beautiful but boring The Man in the Iron Mask. And while I'm sure he was assisted by part time director Gibson at some point, Wallace has fashioned a powerful account of war.

Gibson is effective as Moore. We don't see him simply as a gung ho soldier, but as a decent family man as well. Not once did I doubt his leadership. I also enjoyed Sam Elliot as Moore's tough-as-nails right hand man, while Barry Pepper is strong as a journalist who finds himself part of the battle. As I stated before, some characters here aren't fully realized, but in some cases, it actually benefits the movie. Chris Klein shows up as a soldier who's recently become a father. Obviously, Moore has a strong connection, because Klein is sort of a mirror image of himself. Wallace refrains from using Klein too much, and the end result indicates that maybe there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the young actor who most recently wowed audiences in the absurd Rollerball. Greg Kinnear has a rather thankless role as a helicopter pilot, but he is allowed a few powerful moments. The rest of the ensemble is more than effective.

Movies like Saving Private Ryan, Platoon and Thin Red Line all sprang to mind as I watched We Were Soldiers. But mostly, it resembles Black Hawk Down with it's themes of honor and heroism, and it's depiction of chaotic battle and a military operation that doesn't quite go as planned.

Most misleading are the trailers for We Were Soldiers that almost make the movie look as if it's nothing more than clich -riddled fluff. Trust me when I tell you, this isn't the case. We Were Soldiers is as powerful as war films get. This is the first great movie of 2002 and it will almost certainly make my best of the year list.