50
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
Beneath the rough vérité exterior beats the same slick, corny heart.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
40
In his first major role, the Irish actor Farrell deflects the script's more dubious aspects through sheer magnetic presence.
88
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
A strong, gritty, powerful piece of film making, and one of the three or four best movies made about the Vietnam era.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
Consistently fresh, engrossing and unpredictable.
83
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
An affecting, old fashioned, antiwar war story.
75
Rarely less than compelling, must-see entertainment, thanks to Farrell, Schumacher and company.
70
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
The stripped-down production give a disturbing sense of immediacy to an otherwise fairly conventional story about boys being prepared for war.
20
Schumacher has gone into the cinematic heart of darkness and emerged with his own peculiar kink on the war movie: Vietnam beefcake.
75
Worth a look. It's easy to overrate -- but just as easy to undervalue.
30
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Despite melodramatic lapses -- the gripping action recalls Walter Hill's 1981 "Southern Comfort" -- this is Schumacher's most ambitions film since "Falling Down" in 1993, and it plays to his strengths with young actors.