With countless copies of the DVD around the house, i’m finally sitting down to watch We Were Soldiers. I’m kinda live-blogging this as it plays.

This movie is pretty much all musical montage. Noticing a trend in war movies: the leader that makes bad calls right off the top then the lower-ranking soldier steps up and shines. I guess war is war. It’s also hard not to compare everything to the yardstick of war on film, Band of Brothers. There’s almost too many familiar faces in We Were Soldiers that bring with them the baggage of previous rolls — a problem that Band of Brothers didn’t have to deal much with (aside from Ross).

So, i’m having trouble believing the radioman on the ground was talking directly to the air support pilots. …And that’s a degloving. Crucial.

The dynamic range on this soundtrack is hard to keep up with. Lots of quiet whispering right next to huge explosions and gunfire. Thumb staying on the volume button.

…Aaaand a slo-mo battle scene. I’m becoming too picky about my war flick cinematography. Oh yeah, this doesn’t look like Vietnamese jungles, more like the hills of California, but i’ve never been to Vietnam.

So how about that AK-47? Greatest gun of all time? If you’re a bad guy.

Roll credits. Some memorable scenes — can’t get over the closeness of the combat. Modern war seems like such a remote affair — scopes and satellites and unmanned vehicles. Bayonets and fists and grenades: the side of war i’d hope to never experience if i were a soldier.