A group of G. I.'s get cut off in the middle of Vietnam and gradually start to lose their sanity while embroiled in a series of sniper battles.
While the acting gets a little wobbly at times, there's a few bang-up action sequences on display, particularly a drawn out battle at the very start with a lot of impressive pyrotechnics for a relatively low budget movie. How do I know this was low budget? Well, mainly the costume design for the Vietcong seems a bit off. There isn't one character wearing sandals and black pajamas or the iconic cone-shaped hats that real V. C. would wear. Instead they're almost all dressed in very American earthtones that would work much better as camo in Southern California than South Vietnam. There isn't any depiction of Vietnamese civilian life, as even a stroll through a populated village would have helped increase the scope tremendously. Then when we get to Los Angeles post war to see one of the men deal with PTSD, about 75% of it is relegated to a dingy apartment as he struggles to reconcile his inner demons with civilian life.
Complaints aside, I'm impressed that they got as much authentic military equipment and bloody squibs together as they did. The film also comes complete with a lot of touching moments of humanity seen lacking in a lot of newer war movies. There's weight to the deaths, sadness to the suicidal spiral, and a few very beautifully composed shots sprinkled in. Some of the best performances come from a few of the actors playing V. C. who even sport a few conversations in authentic Vietnamese.
