John Irvin directed this film, set in Vietnam war and depicting one US platoon's mission to conquer one important hill for US soldiers. The mission should be somewhat easy and without major problems, but once they arrived there, they had to fight 9 days and strike 11 times until the US soldiers finally "won" the battle for the hill, named after the fight as Hamburger Hill because so many men were killed and destroyed there. So this is a depiction of true case in Vietnam war, and the result is pretty harrowing piece of cinema.
At the end of the film, there is one citation from some Vietnam veteran and that really sums up the film's message and pacifism the film ends up in. The film depicts perhaps little too much those US fighters and seems to forget those who they were fighting at, that also the "enemy" was consisted of human beings and as equally valuable individuals as the US ones. Fortunately this doesn't promote American's as Michael Bay's horrible Pearl Harbor and some other stupid and inept Hollywood war movies. Hamburger Hill is not as near as bad as those, but it should have concentrated a little more on these Vietnamese people, too.
Occasionally, the film stops for a while and that adds nothing to the film since the characters never become too interesting nor deep and personal. This film has these few negative things that tone the result down, but fortunately there are also positive things in this film.
The fight scenes are totally greatly staged and they seem so real, that they almost remind me of Saving Private Ryan's beginning and its rage. Hamburger Hill has some horrible scenes of violence (both, towards US and Vietnamese) and the film really shows the faces of war honestly without hiding anything and thinking about PG13 rating or other crap so usual in nowadays Hollywood productions. The last 5 minutes is perhaps the greatest part of the movie since there are strong images at the hill and about the carnage created. Also, the mentioned citation before the end credits is very powerful and finally shows that this film is meant to be pacifistic and right minded, as all war movies should be.
If Hamburger Hill had deeper and more interesting characters and omitted those useless and slow parts, this would be without a doubt more noteworthy piece of cinema. Now it is not as great as it could be, but still I appreciate this film so much it deserves. John Irvin has also directed another war related film, Dogs of War which is more drama oriented and pretty much criticizes developing countries' inhuman dictatorship that usually is at power there. I think these both films are recommended for people interested in history and many faces of it. These two films are not immortal pieces of art, but have still their merits. 7/10
At the end of the film, there is one citation from some Vietnam veteran and that really sums up the film's message and pacifism the film ends up in. The film depicts perhaps little too much those US fighters and seems to forget those who they were fighting at, that also the "enemy" was consisted of human beings and as equally valuable individuals as the US ones. Fortunately this doesn't promote American's as Michael Bay's horrible Pearl Harbor and some other stupid and inept Hollywood war movies. Hamburger Hill is not as near as bad as those, but it should have concentrated a little more on these Vietnamese people, too.
Occasionally, the film stops for a while and that adds nothing to the film since the characters never become too interesting nor deep and personal. This film has these few negative things that tone the result down, but fortunately there are also positive things in this film.
The fight scenes are totally greatly staged and they seem so real, that they almost remind me of Saving Private Ryan's beginning and its rage. Hamburger Hill has some horrible scenes of violence (both, towards US and Vietnamese) and the film really shows the faces of war honestly without hiding anything and thinking about PG13 rating or other crap so usual in nowadays Hollywood productions. The last 5 minutes is perhaps the greatest part of the movie since there are strong images at the hill and about the carnage created. Also, the mentioned citation before the end credits is very powerful and finally shows that this film is meant to be pacifistic and right minded, as all war movies should be.
If Hamburger Hill had deeper and more interesting characters and omitted those useless and slow parts, this would be without a doubt more noteworthy piece of cinema. Now it is not as great as it could be, but still I appreciate this film so much it deserves. John Irvin has also directed another war related film, Dogs of War which is more drama oriented and pretty much criticizes developing countries' inhuman dictatorship that usually is at power there. I think these both films are recommended for people interested in history and many faces of it. These two films are not immortal pieces of art, but have still their merits. 7/10