It's 1983, towards the beginning of a decade that would feature many Vietnam War movies, and "Uncommon Valor" has added its name to the list. Very little of the movie features the Vietnam War itself as it shifts focus to a POW rescue operation.
I liked the plot and flow of the movie because it took its time. Col. Cal Rhodes (Gene Hackman) had a son who never returned from the Vietnam War. After 10 years and several various attempts to locate his son, Cal finally got some credible information on his son's whereabouts. Going the diplomatic route was a no-go being that he'd tried that many times over. He would have to rescue his son himself. He would only need the funds and the manpower to successfully retrieve his son. The funds came from another man whose son was MIA, and the manpower came in the form of Vietnam vets: Wilkes (Fred Ward), Blaster (Reb Brown), Sailor (Randall 'Tex' Cobb), Johnson (Harold Sylvester), and Charts (Tim Thomerson), who still had something left in the tank. Rhodes picked up Scott (Patrick Swayze) and some local Laotians for extra help.
This movie reminded me of "The Dirty Dozen." The men on the mission were all interesting characters and they rehearsed ad nauseum in order to make sure they succeeded once they went to Laos where the POW camp was. The combination of the likeable characters and the nice plot made "Uncommon Valor" uncommonly good.
I liked the plot and flow of the movie because it took its time. Col. Cal Rhodes (Gene Hackman) had a son who never returned from the Vietnam War. After 10 years and several various attempts to locate his son, Cal finally got some credible information on his son's whereabouts. Going the diplomatic route was a no-go being that he'd tried that many times over. He would have to rescue his son himself. He would only need the funds and the manpower to successfully retrieve his son. The funds came from another man whose son was MIA, and the manpower came in the form of Vietnam vets: Wilkes (Fred Ward), Blaster (Reb Brown), Sailor (Randall 'Tex' Cobb), Johnson (Harold Sylvester), and Charts (Tim Thomerson), who still had something left in the tank. Rhodes picked up Scott (Patrick Swayze) and some local Laotians for extra help.
This movie reminded me of "The Dirty Dozen." The men on the mission were all interesting characters and they rehearsed ad nauseum in order to make sure they succeeded once they went to Laos where the POW camp was. The combination of the likeable characters and the nice plot made "Uncommon Valor" uncommonly good.