Customer Reviews

Under Heavy Fire

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I had recently watched this movie one early Sunday morning around 3:00am when I couldn't sleep. I at first thought it was one of those B rated movies so I choose to continue watching it and yes the acting wasn't all that great, but what intriqued me mostly about the movie was the fact that Veterans's were returning back to Vietnam and reliving nightmares and dealing with old demons and problems. The acting was alright considering what the movie was about. It really captured my attention when mistakes were made with the command structure and how misunderstanding and anger brought these band of brothers back together after so many years of pain. So hey the movie made it's point to me and that is why I ordered the DVD so I can watch it again. Great job Capser Van Diem and the remaining cast. Thanks!

Possibly the worst movie dealing with the Vietnam theme in the last 10-15 years. The plot revolves around a group of Marines returning to Vietnam to reexperience their old haunts of thirty years past. The group is hostile to their captain, who they belive called in an artillery strike on some of them, killing several, after a mutinous incident. As the men relive their experiences of the past war, they begin to confront what took place in the rice paddies long ago.

The movie is bad in nearly every respect. The lead, Casper Van Dien, is woefully miscast (he was great in Starship Troopers) and his efforts to play a Marine captain and demonstrate "decisiveness" are ridiculous. van Diem as a meditative, tormented soul with a "Marlboro gravelly" voice?! Hysterical.

Worse are the stereotypes of "'Nam" vets. After BG Burkett's Stolen Valor, it is amazing such idiotic stereotypes can still exist. Naturally the "'Nam" vets here are all given to constant "confession," drunken reveling and psychotic behavior--brought on by "'Nam," of course.

In the tradition of Platoon, there is no mention of politics in the film--other than "wise" looking Vietnamese soberly declaring that they "fought from the heart for liberation" while the Americans merely "fought from hate of the Gooks." Maybe this is the reason the movie's American vets are constantly weeping and having existential crises that resemble what your kid-sister had when her boyfriend broke up w/ her. Anyway this is "'Nam" for MTV, not actual vets--so why not?

The script is so bad that it's painful to listen to. Did this film have an editor?

In short, the film is a remarkably amaturish attempt to cash in on "'Nam" (dude!) stereotypes and make a buck. Have respect for the real vets. Read a novel by Keith Nolan or Burkett's book instead.

Atmittedly, Van Dien may have been a bad choice for this film, but he doesn't do a terrible job. Just not that good. The amazing thing about this film which most reviewers seem to have missed is that a lot of it seems to have actually been filmed in Vietnam. It is also the first film to approach the subject of Veterans returning to Nam. On that note, the acting was pretty bad, quite overdone and just plain laughable at times, and the dialogue was pretty lame. The action was mediocre at best, and all the actors, the "vietnam veterans" who are revisiting Nam are clearly in their 20's and 30's. The subplots were unnecessary, and several of the dates were extremely innacurate. If you have any intrest in Vienam films, and war films in general, this film is worth at least one watch. Even better, watch Sindey Furie's other film "The Boys of Company C".

UNDER HEAVY FIRE (2001) Directed by Sidney J. Furie.

Starring Caspar Van Dien.

A group of tortured, sobbing, mentally unstable Vietnam Vets return to sunny happy apparently Non-Communist Vietnam to relive the spring of 1968 supposedly to discover what really happened when it appeared their Captain ordered artillary fire on his own men but really so the filmmakers can trot out nearly all of the Commie/lib propaganda points about the War save, by some miracle, that the troops were not all suppressed homosexual nazis. It starts out well but reveals its true Red identity at the 60 minute mark when an American college professor, wearing a Ho Chi Minh T-shirt, helpfully explains that the Vietcong were filled with love while the Americans were filled with hate. Really. I am not making it up.

The Americans mow down innocent women and children. There are no communists in the film. No one knows what the war is about. The South Vietnamese(whom the Reds slaughtered in 1975) are portrayed as being a bunch of savages so obviously deserved to be exterminated. The modern now South Vietnamese frei Vietnam is populated all with glowing smiling Elmos. The dirty sick Americans all end up in a muddy field screaming.

A filthy piece of excrement that happily, due to the attack of the Muslim barbarians the year this was voided from the Liberal rectum, we will never see any more of since Hollywood needs the exact same poison to help undercut the troops fighting the 9/11 War.

Like AVATAR, nice special effects, gorgeous photography and battle scenes. Still genocidal pornography.

If one reads the end credits, one notices that it was made in cooperation of the Communist Vietnam govt. Isn't that special?

One of the worst war films, ever. Whoever wrote the script for this film was clearly not doing the Vietnam veteran any favors.

There were just too many things wrong with "Under Heavy Fire", beginning with both the historical and technical aspects of Marine combat operations in Vietnam.

The first combat sequence is laughable. Marine combat commanders didn't order Navy Skyraider pilots to drop their fuel tanks under any circumstances. So is the use of an M113 as an NVA tank. So is the staged movement of the "troops" under fire.

At one point, the Hue City sequence looked pretty good, but it wasn't enough to give any depth to the story or develop any of the characters. I didn't care what happened to anybody in the film, because it seemed to me that what they were doing from scene to scene was nonsensical.

At the very least, the characters come across as stereotypical. And what was the deal with the female lead? What was she supposed to be about?

The story plods along at an irritatingly slow pace. Predictably, by the film's end, the real villain is fleshed out and the inept Captain Ramsey character is vindicated. He and Carrie Otis walk off into the sunset, holding hands.

Anyway, if you liked this film, try to pick up a dvd set of the old Chuck Connors TV show, "Branded".

At the beginning of each show, Chuck is stripped of all his medals by some fat midget general standing on a soap box, and then sent off on the road to oblivion, I guess back to the minors. Pack duffle and shuffle, Chuck!

I can still remember part of the "Branded" theme song: "All but one man died, there at Bitter Creek... What can you do when you're branded... And you know you're a man?" Taa Daa!

"Branded" might have been trite, but at least it wasn't pretentious and exploitive. Also, it was only a half an hour long, which was what the running time for "Under Heavy Fire" should have been.

Under the guise of being a movie about healing of Vietnam War Veterans this movie is just the opposite. In the movie these old soldiers get together and find out what trigger happy baby killers they were when they were young. Apparently there are still folks out there that find it neccessary to keep on spitting on vets. I picked up this DVD cheap and kind of sorry that I spent the six bucks for it. If you want to see a good Vietnam flick, spend your money on WHEN WE WERE SOLDIERS. It is a much better storyline and the folks in it actually do a good job of acting. UNDER HEAVY FIRE on the other hand is a B movie, with a lousy story and poorly executed. Sappy-sappy-sappy with a big group hug in the end. What a waste. Why do I have to give this move a star. Why can't I give it a minus three stars?

I must disagree with the former reviewer, I saw nothing racist about this movie at all. As a matter of fact, I thought the movie portrayed the good and bad sides of American soldiers quite well.

In one scene, the Americans are fighting the North Vietnamese and fire into a crowd of civilians to kill one. They kill everyone in the crowd, an action that warrants the men the disgust of their leader.

The movie focuses on Ramsey, who fought in the war and whose men now hate him. There are many flashbacks, showing heroism and brutality. At the end, the reasons behind the men's hatred for Ramsey are revealed...and what really happened when the men were under friendly fire.

There is a lot of swearing, so it is definitely not for children. I enjoyed it nonetheless. Casper van Dien is incredible in his difficult role as Ramsey--young and old.

Very good movie after seeing the "Band of Brothers". I don't want to write a high school like book report to tell you the details and ruin your watching enjoyment. There are certain great emotions and passions in this movie. Redemption, memories, ghosts haunted the VietNam veterans for so many years. Great Marines only became the victims of the wrong decision of the government. It only made me think that if our government did not decide to involve in the VietNam war, and just let the North take over the corrupted South VietNam sooner, and then corrupted themselves later, there would be no so many lives lost on both sides for nothing. The wrong decision makers of the governments actually are the biggest murderers by using the terms of "National Interests", or for the interestes of the PEOPLE. And the people should not become the pawns of a wrong policy. Life is so short to be wasted in vain. Watching sun rise and sun set together with the your family and reading great books once in a while are the best policy for our common people.

This movie suprised me. I was saw it for just $6 bucks here and there and just past it by. Finally bought it and it was really nearly 5 stars. It tears at the heart with the brotherhood of arms and Marines being called in to question. This is not some courtroom trail at all but a chance to grow/live and seal the bonds that only these men can cherish in their hearts

This is relivng the past by going back to what looks like must be early-mid eighties Vietnam. This film looks as though it was filmed there. What happens is a small group of Marines are brought back to do a documentory about what they went through detailing one unfortunatly tragic event. I felt a bit of magic as though it was real.

Go get it and slowly let yourself be taken back. Our real Veteran's are my heroes and these guys play the part well.

Make it 5 stars!

This movie shows American soldiers commiting war crimes yet Van says they are spotless in this "racist" film. what a load of crap. The acting is ok, the story is well done as far as the strong emotions brought to the surface as the soldiers attempt to heal their emotional scars. As far as the people criticizing the amount of action, the title accuratly depicts the error of an individual who is under heavy fire and calls in bad coordinance for the air strike that kills his fellow troops.