BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Thehibikiew Not even bad in a good way

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

dansview Don Johnson has a certain presence that makes him watchable in most of his projects. It's a sort of a gravitas combined with the cool alpha southern guy. He does not possess a huge range, as evidenced by this performance and most others, but in the final courtroom scene, he gives a fine emotional yet understated performance.I was convinced that this was going to be another movie depicting American soldiers as sadistic, maniacal murderers and rapists. It basically was, but Johnson's speech at the end balances things out with an interesting and original use of logic.He admits that his fellow soldiers did something terrible, but suggests that their acts were crimes of passion during an otherwise honorable period of service and subsequent honorable lifetimes.The only way the movie can exist is if we don't get to hear Johnson's account of the key event in Vietnam until the end of the movie. Everything hinged on this suspense. Therefore he awkwardly refuses to tell his own wife and kid what happened, and we don't hear him tell his own lawyer.One reviewer already mentioned that the key witness, a French nun, became black over the 30 year period since the war. She was a missionary, but perhaps we are supposed to assume that she went through a skin pigmentation darkening process. Michael Jackson was a missionary too.I usually love Jeanne Tripplehorn, but she was wooden in this one. I usually love John Heard too. I guess he was OK, but I really didn't get a feel for who the hell he was.More importantly, I still don't understand why the soldiers massacred everyone. I guess Johnson's speech about temporary insanity explains it. They were distraught over the deaths of their fellow soldiers and suspicious of everyone, they were fatigued, and they just lost it.There is one born again Christian in the adult version of the platoon whom we see when they reunite in D.C. But it would have been nice to see Don Johnson's character consult with a clergyman.Also, as one other reviewer cleverly mentioned, I saw no evidence that the Johnson character's marriage was so sacred. He tells his lawyer that his wife and kid are everything to him, but it seems like his wife is just a sexy blonde with whom he has a lukewarm relationship.This picture is slow, has low budget production values, is filled with clichés, and makes little sense. The Vietnam sequences are totally unrealistic and clichéd too. One soldier even says, "Don't die on me man," while he holds his bloodied friend. I've never heard that one before.Stay away from this stinker, unless you are a Johnson fan, or just have a penchant for anything to do with Vietnam. It includes Arliss Howard, a pleasing actor from the 80s as well.

emanuel42 The film as well as the book by Nelson De-Mile really causes frustration and un-easiness.We have here a civilian with a successful career and an unblemished record as a combat officer , faulty accused by a 'rightuous civilian ' of being a war criminal. I'm an israeli , and we also experience here motions provoked by 'snow white'civilians from all sorts of 'human rights' organizations to put soldiers and commanding officers to trial, describing any military action taken by those accused to be a criminal act, while on the other hand outrageously ignore enemy's criminal activities like bombing buses , civic centers , schools etc.FOOD FOR THINKING!!!! let's condemn these organizations !!! Betzelem, Shalom achshav, women in black, machsom watch etc.

ali-37 I had never heard of this movie but I'm a great fan of DeMille. I was totally blown away by Johnson's performance. He's way more believable than Sean Penn who always overacts. Johnson's performance is subtle even when he breaks down at the end. Great Great great. There's a great line in the film about the media being a giant conglomerate only interested in exploiting human tragedy for big bucks but calling it a search for truth.(Funny how apt this is with the NY Times looking into the adoption of Judge Roberts' kids) If this had been a feature film, I'm sure Johnson would have been nominated for an Oscar.The rest of the cast was so so but it doesn't make any difference. When Johnson is on the screen, the film is riveting. I also thought it was great that his son played him in the flashback scenes.

mermath I don't usually add to this "comments" aspect of IMDb. But let me tell you, Don Johnson was AMAZING and blew me away, and if I didn't sit down and write about it, I was going to explode.Truthfully, although Sharon Lawrence did an extremely competent job (sometimes really good) as his wife, the rest of the supporting cast was OK at best. Some really bad performances, in fact, that just make you cringe, but that you will often get on TV movies. The guys in the flashback sections did alright, especially Don Johnson's son. But other than that, you are just waiting for Don Johnson to come back on screen. And he does, so it's worth waiting for those moments:) And let me emphasize that I am NOT some teeny-bopper Don Johnson fan. I've never even liked his work that much before. But if you get a chance to see this (I got an Academy viewer; I'm not sure if they come out on DVD or not) you MUST check this out. I'm so impressed with what Mr.Johnson is capable of, and I'm really looking forward to his next movie.If this had been a feature film, I would say that it was Oscar worthy.