SPOILERS AHOY !!!
Uncommon Valor is a decent - you might even say good - war movie that in fact was one of the first films that portraits the pain and depression after Vietnam. The movie mostly sets in the same year as it was shot - 1983 - a good 10 years after the last troops returned from Vietnam. At the time of the story, there still are many P.O.W kept hidden in the jungle of Laos. One of them is Kol. Rhodes' son Frank. Rhodes ( Gene Hackman is a great role as always ) feels that his son is still alive and can't go on living with the thought that he's kept prisoner. Therefore he convinces and recruits a whole platoon of veterans to go back and release the M.I.A's. On one side, they're sponsored by the government because one big man there also has a missing son but on the other side they're being boycott because the government still is negociating with Laos to set the prisoners free without a battle.
Three quarters of the movie is filled with the training and recruiting of the veterans and it's pretty needless to say that involves a lot of sentiment, emotion and even some funny moments. In that point of view, Uncommon Valor isn't really innovating or memorable but it does contain an interesting character portrait of veterans in general. We see how one soldier is faced with his old phobia again ( Fred Ward, still a very underappreciated actor in my opinion ) and another one going crazy once again because he was addicted to painkillers back in Vietnam ( Randall "Tex" Cobb in a very well cast role ). Uncommon Valor also stars a young Patrick Swayze ( even before his Dirty Dancing role ) as the enthusiast young warrior who never fought in Vietnam but sure wants to help now in releasing the prisoners. The film is directed by Ted Kotcheff who knows his way around Vietnam stories...He was the one who also brought us the Rambo franchise.
Uncommon Valor doesn't belong to the top list of Vietnam war movies but it certainly is enjoyable and worth a watch. Good cast and especially the locations and settings leave an impression on you.
Uncommon Valor is a decent - you might even say good - war movie that in fact was one of the first films that portraits the pain and depression after Vietnam. The movie mostly sets in the same year as it was shot - 1983 - a good 10 years after the last troops returned from Vietnam. At the time of the story, there still are many P.O.W kept hidden in the jungle of Laos. One of them is Kol. Rhodes' son Frank. Rhodes ( Gene Hackman is a great role as always ) feels that his son is still alive and can't go on living with the thought that he's kept prisoner. Therefore he convinces and recruits a whole platoon of veterans to go back and release the M.I.A's. On one side, they're sponsored by the government because one big man there also has a missing son but on the other side they're being boycott because the government still is negociating with Laos to set the prisoners free without a battle.
Three quarters of the movie is filled with the training and recruiting of the veterans and it's pretty needless to say that involves a lot of sentiment, emotion and even some funny moments. In that point of view, Uncommon Valor isn't really innovating or memorable but it does contain an interesting character portrait of veterans in general. We see how one soldier is faced with his old phobia again ( Fred Ward, still a very underappreciated actor in my opinion ) and another one going crazy once again because he was addicted to painkillers back in Vietnam ( Randall "Tex" Cobb in a very well cast role ). Uncommon Valor also stars a young Patrick Swayze ( even before his Dirty Dancing role ) as the enthusiast young warrior who never fought in Vietnam but sure wants to help now in releasing the prisoners. The film is directed by Ted Kotcheff who knows his way around Vietnam stories...He was the one who also brought us the Rambo franchise.
Uncommon Valor doesn't belong to the top list of Vietnam war movies but it certainly is enjoyable and worth a watch. Good cast and especially the locations and settings leave an impression on you.