The visual effects were wonderful. I felt like the whole thing was right in my lap! However, the movie is very definitely making a point about the gruesomeness of war. When the giant bulldozer came up over the ridge I felt like I would throw up. There is a tremendous amount of violence in this film. The US military were definitely portrayed as the bad guys. I am glad that we have freedom of speech in the USA because this movie would be banned in a lot of countries if they were the target of its message.