Good Films set in and around (that I've seen)

Vietnam War films are worth watching for me because of what I mentioned by many of them winning Academy Awards because of how dramatic they can be, they can tell emotional stories, some of them can have entertaining explosive action, and the actors who play the lead roles were well received for their roles.

In this post, I'm going to be telling about some of the films I like which are centred in and around the Vietnam War. Some of them are films that are Hollywood Blockbusters and Cinematic action films. Before we get started, just a quick note that I haven't seen films like Jacob's Ladder, Casualties of War, Born on the Fourth of July, and Good Mornin, Vietnam.

Kong Skull Island

• Kong: Skull Island may be a Monster Film based on the King Kong franchise and not technically a Vietnam War film, but the film shows some features, references, and character motives to the Vietnam War, and it was actually filmed in Vietnam behind the scenes. Set in 1973, Kong: Skull Island is about Classified Organization members who hire Scientists, a U.S. military force lead by a Colonel, a tracker and former member of the SAS, and an anti-war Photographer to make a discovery of Skull Island and the monsters who rule it. The film has a nature-loving theme to it along with stunning visuals, action, and acting performances from Tom Hiddleson, Samuel Jackson, John Goodman, and Brie Larson. To me, what makes this relevant is that the theme shows a simple and lighter tone of motivation from the Vietnam War.

We Were Soldiers

• Directed by Randall Wallace and starring Mel Gibson (the creators of Braveheart), We Were Soldiers is a fact-based tale about the Battle of Ia Drang, 1965. The film is about men under fire and their loyalty to one another as they display acts of uncommon valour. Like the film 12 Strong, it is frequently cliche, but the film shows a believable view of how chaotic the battle was and how the soldiers fought for survival in the midst of carnage. Mel Gibson plays as L.T. Col. Hal Moore who was the leader of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry which was sent into the fray. Main positive with We Were Soldiers is that it explores both sides of the war from the perspectives of both the Americans and North Vietnamese soldiers.

Rescue Dawn

• Werner Herzog is known for making films about Man vs Nature, and it clearly shows in Rescue Dawn. The film is about a US Navy Fighter Pilot Dieter Dengler who was shot down over Laos and captured by Vietcong Villagers. When I watched it, I felt that the end of the film was getting close before it even began. The strongest quality of the film is showing the tough struggle of getting captured in the POW Camp and facing a tense fight for survival against nature in the least glamorous aspects of war. 

Hamburger Hill

• For a dramatic war film, it does show what the soldiers feel when they're together. For an action war film, there's assault after assault, firefight after firefight, and casualty after casualty. This film doesn't hold back until the Hill is taken. Hamburger Hill is based on the 187th Infantry of the 101st Airborne Divison who are completely outmatched as they fight against NVA in the Battle of Hill 937, later named 'Hamburger Hill'. 

The cast in this film was largely unknown at the time (except for Don Cheadle who would later play War Machine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and the film has some bleak scenes, dramatic moments where characters talk about Anti-War protests for example and graphic and chaotic actions scenes. Out of the majority of certain characters, most of them don't make it out alive. By the end of the movie, the lives of those who do make you can tell that their lives have changed already. This film was written by a real Vietnam Veteran, and it shows the tragedy happening throughout the country even in just one area of the war.

Forrest Gump

• Lots of people know this film and Tom Hanks won an Oscar for Best Actor. Again, this doesn't technically count as a part of this list with just 20 minutes set from Army Training to the controversial Proxy War in the Mekong Delta, to an Anti-War protest. But during that time, Forrest Gump shows several meanings set in and around the Vietnam War and even though it's not entirely realistic, it portrays moments in a believable manner. The film is fantastic at its sign of showing emotion and spirit. For that reason, Forrest Gump counts for this post.

Tigerland

Directed by Joel Schumacher, Tigerland is an underrated thriller about a group of recruits who go through Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana's infamous Tigerland which is the last stop before Vietnam for tens of thousands of young men in 1971. 

• What I like about this film are drama and rivalries between characters and tense situations as their progress through training toward their way of becoming soldiers. 
• Starring Colin Farrell with a few known and unknown cast members, Tigerland shows moral dilemma and harrowing brutality between young soldiers as they find a way through or out of the training base.

Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan

This is an Australian War Thriller which tells a true story about 108 Australian and New Zealand inexperienced soldiers (mostly conscripts) who fought for their lives in the Battle of Long Tan, 1966 against the number of 2'500 North Vietnamese and Vietcong. It stars Travis Fimmel (Ragnar from Vikings) who plays Major Harry Smith who was one of the experienced conscripts who fought in the battle. 

• The film is good at capturing the war from an alternate country and that it's dedicated to the soldiers of Delta Company who fought and died in the battle. It also shows the fact that both sides claimed a victory in the end.
• Though the film does use a number of CGI visuals as some of the special effects which can be noticeable in times.

Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan is a gripping examination of soldiers who show their strength and courage in the isolated battleground of the Vietnam War.

• Even though this isn't a war film, it tells the story about a criminal career, Frank Lucas and his group of gangsters who trafficked heroin from U.S. servicemen in the Vietnam War, and a police detective, Richie Roberts who led a task force to detain him.

Starring Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas and Russell Crowe as Richie Roberts, and along with cast members like Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejofor, and Idris Elba.

American Gangster shows how America suffered a lack of employment which caused more corruption for money from the drug trade. But it's the time setting and the story involving how Frank Lucas tells how extortion was made during the Vietnam War. It's for those reasons why American Gangster counts on this post.

The Best Vietnam War Movies

No matter how many Vietnam War films are there, released in any decade, there are four best films that have been the most received because of how emotional, atmospheric and cinematographic they all are. These four are famous and well known in the world of cinema, and I can say they're my favorites too.
Now just so you know, I'm not making a count down out of 5 or 10 based on a list of favorites. I'm just telling that these are all utter classics.

• Before this film, Stanley Kubrick was famously known for masterpieces like 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining, and he had experience addressing wars as part of the subject in his films like the First World War in Paths of Glory, The Seven Years War in Barry Lyndon, and the Cold War in Dr. Strangelove. However, in 1987, Kubrick turned his attention to the Vietnam War with Full Metal Jacket. 
• The film has two sections, Training for 'Nam' and Fighting in 'Nam'. Out of all the characters and scenes, R Lee Ernmy as Sgt Hartmann plays the best performance in the film. The cinematography is excellent and the special effects look absolutely real with fire and smoke in the gunfire. A tightly constructed and claustrophobic film, Full Metal Jacket is extremely effective at communicating Vietnam War themes. 
• When I first watched Full Metal Jacket, the psychological attention really made me surprised and depressed at the same time.

• I know this first of three films set in the Vietnam War from Oliver Stone. Platoon is a powerful classic and most notable film from Stone himself. 
• The film shows a brutal analysis of war itself and it shows how effecting the war can bring on good people. There are scenes in the film that are hard to watch, tripled with entertaining but not so glamorous action scenes and fine performances from Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, and Tom Berenger. 
• Oliver Stone's experience in Vietnam makes the film a more personal approach to the war, which makes Platoon explores a harrowing ground level of the war.
• When I first watched it, I almost stopped watching it because of how difficult it was to cope with. 

• I watched this film for just one time recently, and I can tell that it's so accurate and bleak at depicting the emotions before and after the entry into war. By the end of the film, I had tears streaming down my face. That's how depressing the film was.
• Michael Cimino's sympathetic direction really overpowers the film, and it's the winner of 5 Oscar including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken. The Deer Hunter is a powerful look into the Vietnam War with fantastic performances Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep.
• The film is famous for Russian Roulette scenes which at the time, made it controversial, but today, it's a classic. 
• Despite the film having a 3 hour running time, The Deer Hunter is a dramatic, emotional and harrowing examination of how people are not the same after the war with some of the most unforgettable scenes that were made from the 1970s.

• I'm certain that most people know this film by heart, even with its Final Cut coming out this month. Most people have rated this to be one of the Best War Movies to date, and has left a legacy of references in various films and TV shows.
• Francis Ford Coppola's haunting epic war shows a ruthless journey through Vietnam into Kurtz's Compound and into the soul of man himself. The film is an adaptation of John Conrad's Heart of Darkness, only the novel takes place in 1880s Africa and the film transplants it to 1969 Vietnam. 
• The film itself is absolutely audacious and visionary. Apocalypse Now captures the horrors of war in a visually stunning manner, followed with excellent cinematography and first-class performances. The subtle message is Man's Will to Destroy, leading to know that war is more horrific and destructive than you know.
• I felt like I saw something completely heavy after the first time I watched the Redux version. Coppola once said "My film isn't about Vietnam. It is Vietnam. It's what it was really like. It was crazy. And the way we made it was very much like the way the Americans were in Vietnam. We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment and little by little we went insane." This explains how difficult it was him and his crew to make at the time as it is grim and bleak as pitch black. A documentary film called Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse explains Apocalypse Now behind the scenes and how it was made.
• Apocalypse Now is a fantastic spectacle and an utter masterpiece not be forgotten.