POINT MAN-5-STAR!

a

Movie Review

(5-STAR Vietnam War Movie)

        By

The living breathing James Brown

 

 

        Talking is easy.  But, can you walk the walk?  I am a Veteran and I am taking on this Movie Review as a Tribute to all of the fallen on Both Sides in the Vietnam War. POINT MAN, a 2018 movie Release is a Double-Tap on your emotions and I am not kidding you in any way.  It is a hard ride.  A ride that all of us must take. 

        This Movie will make you sit-up and think.  It will grab you, toss you around, and then spit you out forcing you to take a good long hard look at how deep Man’s Revenge can become.  This Movie will make you take a deep dark look at the Darkest side of the Vietnam War.  And yes, this stuff did take place in varying forms and not just by the Americans and some were jailed for such activities and some were Overlooked. 

        Accountability, walks a thin line and sometimes is just a matter of words and in this Movie, you must judge for yourself.  And will you cross the Line? But all of us must see the good with the not so good in order to come away with the Fullest Picture of the Vietnam War.  Realistically, many today only attempt to find the truth in Video Form and in Movie Form.  And this one is no different.  This Movie will show you stuff that you must see to believe.

      And in the Vietnam War, there was a whole lot of breaking the Rules by both sides that went on.  Man, every time an agreement was made, it was lucky if it lasted just a day or sixty minutes.

       And are you mature enough to sit and watch a Movie with In Your Face Racial Tensions?  I know, a thousand already are saying-Man, I know all about that crap, that’s how I be living.  But is it?  I mean did you ever sink so low with hatred that you could kill anything?  Kill anyone?  Kill a child?  Have you taken that road before and yes, there are those sickos who have and become sick Active Shooters torching on the very Doorsteps of our hard-fought Freedoms.

       But again, if you weren’t there, have you earned the right to speak-up about something like you was?  So, let me make this very clear.  I do not agree with what I witnessed in this Movie, but it does fall in line with the many tales Veteran Friends told me about some of these vicious Atrocities that took place in Vietnam during that Horrible War.  

        Do you watch or toss it aside?  No, POINT MAN did not get the GLITTERY OPENING or the SEX APPEAL of that War, but it is still a 5-STAR Movie all the same.  And one that many will be talking about after they view it.

       WATCH IT!  WATCH ALL OF IT! 

         And afterwards, you will come away with many more questions about that War that none wish to discuss today.  No one wants or likes to be reminded of the ugliness of War and in Vietnam, the Ugliness did take place.  And no, many, many American G.I.’s did not participate in these atrocities that you are going to see.

          But Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not expect to be gunned-down on balcony either.  And that other Vicious Attack that opened America’s Eyes here back home to something far uglier than ever expected.  It made America take a look at Herself and We Did and that is why many are wondering today about when the Boys are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan?

To stay in any Country took long and guess what?  You become viewed as the New Enemy to the locals.  But things were a mess like the setting for this Movie-

      The Tet-Offensive had taken place and many were now on a mission of some Pay-Back.  And no, not all took vengeance to this low level.  Effective?  Sure, it was intensively effective, but necessary?  You will decide this or that.  But then, you will start to wonder anew how many Atrocities during the Vietnam War did in fact take place.  Yes, I already said-They did and by Both sides.  You will walk away wondering how deep Racial Divides and Hatreds were in the Vietnam War and the U.S. Draft only deepened all of it when they lowered the Test Scores to get More Walking Bodies to toss into the furnace. 

        During the Tet-Offensive, one Veteran Friend told me how he watched a Vietnamese Barber was moving boards and then came up from underneath the barracks and began slicing the necks of sleeping G.I.’s before he was overtaken and killed.  And in every Vietnam Book or from one of millions of Vietnam Veterans, you can hear one story after another of things that took place. 

         And in POINT MAN, get ready.  I am forewarning you.  The viewer will be treated to a Nightmare and not just one, like you have never seen.  The emptiness of being left during a fire-fight with the enemy.  Nightmares far worse than any Clown Horror Movie. 

         This one is a Movie that will sink its TEETH into the Viewer and you will be tested-Can you take it and watch it?  Or will you say-NO WAY-and turn it OFF or end the Feed?  Or will you tag along as the Newbie and see how far you can come along for the ride because it is going to take you on one.

         The Director and all the Stars have put together an amazing filming and acting.

 IN YOUR FACE WAR DRAMA DURING THE VIETNAM WAR!

        5-STAR! 

POINT MAN may be a hard Movie to watch for both Civilians and for Veterans as all will want to Shake Their Heads. 

But this Movie portrays a part of the Vietnam War Picture that most want to forget, but we not.

 

       POINT MAN’s Storyline is so unbelievably biting.  Racial Tension is running full amuck and just as Crazy Wild as the Vietnam War was.  The Acting is emotionally piercing and will send chills down into the Viewer.  Yes, it is absolutely good.  And what the Actors do in such a short time, they could easily have also taken all of us on a much deeper ride for over six hours and then many would have to go see a Head Doctor afterwards.  And what gives in this flick?

         Men going out to find missing men.  A scenario played-out over and over again in all Wars.  And in this one, it is a simple chore, but then comes the worst of it and that is the Revenge Factor.  Man’s Revenge or his Hatred Unleashed?  Hatred Unleashed without any Referees to stop you.  And do you want to stop?  Or have you gone to such a dark place where there is No Return except a Trip back Stateside with a Healthy Dose of PTSD?

         The Actors as Soldiers are torn apart with Doing Right and Living by the Code of Decency.  A Code many of us Veterans yearned for and when we got back home, all of us found America still was living by another Code of Decency and Fairness which still is amuck to a large degree and still has room for much more improving by many who are still lost in their own World of Racial Hatreds, Misconceptions, and Lies.

          And to “Do the Right Things” only tosses all of the Actors into one situation of Morale Dilemma after another.  And to pick one way means Death and to pick another means Death.  And Viewer BEWARE-If the “N” Word offends you, then get ready to get a heavy Dose of Offended cause you gonna be blasted with it.  And this Racial Tension and the Lines in the Dirt are obviously drawn and where do you find yourself in this Movie?

          For me, I was taken aback to the past in fast motion and the men’s faces blasted before me and the words are still so haunting.  And then even as the Movie takes all of us on our way of trying to survive, we must still find refuge even at the very END.  And how does that?

         A very good Movie Director- Phil Blattenberger does the Vietnam War great service and justice.  And great Acting makes all of this Believable and folks, it was something that did take place over in the Vietnam War.  And no, I am not playing Judge upon my fellow Veterans.  If you were not there, you were not there.  And for that reason, I do not wish to offer words about that.  But the most Publicized Incident that still haunts many Veterans is this one-

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre

 

         The Mỹ Lai Massacre (/ˌmiːˈlaɪ/; Vietnamese: Thảm sát Mỹ Lai [tʰâːm ʂǎːt mǐˀ lāːj] (listen)) was the Vietnam War mass murder of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians by U.S. troops in Sơn Tịnh District, South Vietnam, on 16 March 1968. Between 347 and 504 unarmed people were killed by U.S. Army soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division. Victims included men, women, children, and infants. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated as were children as young as 12.^[1][2] Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in C Company, was convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally given a life sentence, but served only three and a half years under house arrest.

This war crime, which was later called “the most shocking episode of the Vietnam War”,^[3] took place in two hamlets of Sơn Mỹ village in Quảng Ngãi Province.^[4] These hamlets were marked on the U.S. Army topographic maps as Mỹ Lai and Mỹ Khê.^[5]

 

 

          It was a mess of a situation and the number of people massacred is still being debated and I don’t think those numbers will ever be known.

 

         POINT MAN does not stop with the obvious.  No, this Movie takes all of us One Step Farther and it is ABSOLUTE REVENGE and all unforeseen consequences that comes from it.  And when the knife that is in the belt of the G.I. carrying the M60 Machine Gun comes out, get ready to grab your gut too cause it will grab you.  It grabbed me and it was just so fitting with all the rest of that is going on and that One Last G.I. cutting a rug across the field cannot escape and that is the biggest thing I wish to Point Out-

             No One can ever fully Escape the Vietnam War until the day that we do die.

 

Here is the Cast for you to see-

CAST 

	Joshua Dela Cruz	…	NLF Boatman
	Jimmy Ace Lewis	…	Private Rubin
	Matthew Ewald	…	Lieutenant Sutter
	Acorye’ White	…	Private Whittaker
	Marianne del Gallego	…	Viet Lady 1
	Bryan Bachman	…	Lieutenant Marsh
	Joe W Nowland	…	Captain Hardy
	Jeff Williams	…	Sgt. Pike
	Chad Moseley	…	Pvt. Banner
	Triston Dye	…	Private Cotter
	James Roseman	…	Pvt. Henry
	Phil Blattenberger	…	Private Chauncey
	Adam Brudnicki	…	Helicopter Pilot
	Christopher Long	…	Andre ‘Casper’ Allen
	Marcus Bailey	…	Felix Wake
	William Shannon Williams	…	Colonel Abraham
	Jacob Keohane	…	Silas Meeks
	Jamie Roy	…	Pvt. Archuleta
	Jason Damico	…	Private Waterson
	Cody Howard	…	Matthew Ham
	Jason Alan Cook	…	Major Swain
	Chase Gutzmore	…	Joe Creighton
	Matthew Sara	…	Sergeant Hall
	Chad Langley	…	PFC Levinsky
	John Charles Harnett	…	Private Tauber
	Branden Cobb	…	Private Kirkland
	Julian Fadullon	…	NLF RPG operator
	Chandler Estep	…	Helicopter gunner
	Ryan Daniel Thompson	…	Pvt. Granger
	Jacob J. Lau	…	NLF Guerrilla
	Rory Gilbert	…	Sergeant Hernstein
	Ethan Williams	…	Helicopter Copilot
	Simon Poppelreiter	…	Sergeant McMahon
	Joshua Han	…	NLF Guerrilla
	Lance Parker	…	Private Trufant (as Lance Gandy)
	John Y Lee	…	NLF Heavy Machine Gunner
	Jinna Kim	…	Bar girl
	Jack Morgan	…	Private Hollings
	Brandon Oakley	…	Pvt. Paulson
	Oussa Suos	…	Le
	Eddy Edwards	…	Private Conley (as Nick Edwards)
	Ryan Wood	…	Private Steele
	Michael Starling	…	Private Lynch
	Sophea Chey	…	Dead Vietnamese villager
	Kana Yamamoto	…	Vietnamese villager
	Chance Donaldson	…	Private Matthews
	Kimberly Bui	…	Vietnamese Bartender
	Michael P. Walker	…	Sergeant Rand
	Adeline Bui	…	Vietnamese Prostitute
	Paul de Havilland	…	Sergeant Calhoun
	Luke Hicks	…	William Montrabe
	Bora Sophal	…	Sovann
	Dominique Robinson	…	NLF fighter
	Choum Kheang	…	Vietnamese villager
	Zander Krenger	…	Communications operator
	Joel Goodson	…	Pvt. Norwell
	Rachana Meas	…	Vietnamese villager
	Nathaniel Thomas	…	Cpl. Venakides
	Jesse Lambright	…	Private Reed
	Bourey Chen	…	NLF transporter
	Hero Timbang	…	Vietnamese guard
	Ben Teague	…	Pvt. Shephard
	Thomas Timbo Covington	…	PFC Lackland
	Pisey Dith	…	Vietnamese villager
	Perry McKinney	…	Pvt. Scofield
	Daniel Lee Simmons	…	Private Roberts
	Oliver Sherrer	…	Private Clayborn
	Joshua S. Moss	…	Corporal Upshaw
	Jesse Pritchard	…	Private Redford
	Philip Michael Segal	…	Private Segal
	Tad Hutt	…	Helicopter Pilot
	Leap Chey	…	Vietnamese village chief
	Andy Wagers	…	Private Grant
	Matthew Marks	…	Private Reeves
	Isaiah Glynn	…	Private Fuller
	Rin Yame	…	Tran
	Jeoffrey Spinoza	…	Private Alexandro (as Jeff Spinoza)
	Tim O’Neal	…	Sergeant Kristof
	Viseth Khat	…	NLF transporter
	Phillip Dillon	…	Private Coleman
	Sopath Chea	…	Vietnamese villager
	Jacob Punausuia	…	Private Leland
	Scott Hedrick	…	Private Wells
	Beto Aguirre	…	Private Giuseppe
	Jack Derby	…	NLF fighter
	Ken Shigeru	…	NLF fighter
	Perry Balentine	…	Corporal Honeycutt
	Timothy Weal	…	Private Hurney
	Dylan Rudlaff	…	Private Mack
	Justin Lee	…	NLF Heavy Machine Gun Assistant
	Joshua Kirk Lewis	…	Pvt. Batch
	Antwon Grauer	…	Private Freeman
	Dakota Fletcher	…	Private Beasley
	Adam Thompson	…	Sergeant Weatherspoon
	Oun Bi	…	Giong Trom villager
	Zachery Eckel-Stutz	…	PFC Neal
	Nathan Norris	…	Private Ross
	William Riley	…	PFC Zelazny
	John-Gil Warren	…	NLF fighter
	Joseph Aaron Collins	…	Corporal Coble
	Gabe Bermudez	…	PFC Pardo
	Tanner Gandy	…	Private Hooper
	Bridger Trent	…	Helicopter gunner
	Seth Geise	…	PFC Davis
	Kathy Huynh	…	Bartender
	Michael Lee	…	Private Brunell
	Jeffrey Maryak	…	Sgt. Coleman
	Matthew Fiesser	…	Private Jarrett
	Alexander David Hudson	…	Alexandro
	Sopheak Yann	…	Vithu
	Adam Brandel	…	Pvt. Mensch
	Heng Pith	…	NLF transporter
	Montha Aok	…	Vietnamese child
	Jackson Mount	…	Private Goldsmith
	Kong Kea Dith	…	Vietnamese child
	Colin Parker	…	Sgt. Inglefield

Produced by 

Rick Anicetti	…	associate producer
Rick Bauer	…	associate producer
Dan Black	…	executive producer
Phil Blattenberger	…	producer
Branden Cobb	…	executive producer / producer
Benjamin J. Ditty	…	executive producer
Paul de Havilland	…	executive producer
Jack Hicks	…	associate producer
Christopher Long	…	associate producer
Joe W Nowland	…	producer
Emori Smith	…	assistant producer

Cinematography by 

Sean Pollock

Film Editing by 

Simon E. Myers

Casting By 

Dan Black

Set Decoration by 

Molly Welsh

Production Management 

Jason Bunch

…

production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director 

Julian Morgan	…	trainee assistant director
Beverly Tan	…	first assistant director

Sound Department 

Leaf Ballard	…	sound utility
Arjun Banga	…	sound recordist
Chan Dorn Chum	…	sound recordist
Michael C. Clark	…	re-recording mixer / supervising sound editor
Martin White	…	sound mixer
Giovanny Yuri	…	sound recordist

Special Effects by 

Simon E. Myers

…

special effects

Visual Effects by 

Christopher Scarlette

…

visual effects

Stunts 

John Y Lee

…

stunts

Camera and Electrical Department 

Michael Powell	…	camera operator
Tierra Rucker	…	second assistant camera

Other crew 

Hope Baker	…	production assistant
Julia Janssen	…	production assistant
Anna Marie Lawrence	…	production coordinator
Olivia McElvaney	…	continuity
Lise Romanoff	…	Distribution Executive

Thanks 

Jon ‘DJ FM’ Gerler	…	special thanks
Alan B. Rubin	…	special thanks
Philip Segal III	…	special thanks

 

I sincerely hope that you will take the time to watch POINT MAN and I am so very glad that I did. It’s not a Movie to burn you.  It is a Movie to tell you about some things that are very troubling to comprehend even today for many Veterans.

God Bless all who had anything to do with this Movie.

 

Without Movies like this one, all the others become Misconceptions of the Truths.

 

The above Cast Information is from-

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5855164/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

POINT MAN

5-STAR!

WATCH IT!

 

God Bless…the living breathing James Brown, US Army Veteran, Author of Handgun Safety and A Panther’s Father Book Series.