Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Sent to the jungles of Vietnam to film a small unit for a military training video, an aspiring director experiences a side of war seldom told in this fascinating movie helmed by Vietnam War veteran Patrick Sheane Duncan. The film is innovatively shot in fake documentary style from the point of view of the cameraman and while the constant hand-held photography is jarring at first, it sublimely places us in the young man's shoes as he asks prodding questions that the other soldiers seldom want to answer. In a welcome touch, the protagonist gets some screen too as the others grab his camera while he is urinating (his face as he talks about developing film stock depicting the horrors of war is unforgettable), plus he is visible in the haunting, memorable ending. The best aspect of '84C MoPic' is possibly the dialogue. Some of it is downright maudlin and the movie feels plodding at times early on, but as the story progresses and the soldiers open up more to the protagonist, things grow increasingly interesting. Of particular note is the unit's lieutenant waxing poetic about the army being an "equal opportunity employer", excited to be in on the action since it may lead to a promotion (sentiments that cause his drafted underlings to recoil), plus one of his subordinates declaring that "out here, the bush is the boss", not military rank. We never quite get to know all the characters in that much depth, but where each is coming from is always evident and as such this makes for a superb insight into the less glorious and action-packed elements of fighting in war.

84C 'MoPic' is a military cameraman filming a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) mission during the Vietnam War. LT is a lieutenant new in country and eager to climb the military ladder. OD (Richard Brooks) is a wise sergeant. Easy is short. With Pretty Boy, Hammer and Cracker, the group encounters the enemy and dangers along the way.This is what is today referred to as found footage movie. The movie is filmed through MoPic's camera point of view. What I love the most are the little insightful moments of the cat and mouse game with the North Vietnamese. Some of the 'talk' with the group gets a bit too written. Asking Cracker about his black leader is too on-the-nose. The low budget doesn't interfere too much. It forces the movie to focus on the small group. The action isn't as compelling as one would expect because it does get confused. In a way, it's more realistic but less cinematic. This is a fascinating experiment in filmmaking.

Watched this blindly knowing nothing about it and it wasn't too bad.Shot as a documentary, but it's not a documentary. All the story is completely made up and its about a camera man and a Lt. following soldiers out into the field on a mission. These soldiers are a tight knit group of green berets who do the dirty work most are scared to, but as you see as the film goes on these guys are as scared as anyone else is and they suffer and deal with the worst things the war has to offer. From casualties to killing men they have never seen, to surviving through the night this movie tells their tale.Writer/director Patrick Sheane Duncan did an extraordinary job here in my opinion. In his career he has touched on war before as well as music. His writing credits include Mr. Hollands Opus, Elvis the miniseries as well as A Home of our own. His direction here is meant to be that of a shaky nervous cameraman and one would expect to see a film like Cloverfield or Blair Witch BUT far from it, this movie does a perfect job of feeling like a documentary and feeling like a real motion picture at the same time. Not once was the camera shaky or hard on the eyes, it was very steady.The production here was well for a Vietnam movie, it was made two decades after the war but captured the essence well. The actors weren't familiar faces which helped with the documentary feel. All these men portraying soldiers did and a great job in my opinion.I liked a lot of things about the movie too, like how they showed the fear these men had, they didn't make them out to be arrogant heroes, they made them out to be honest and brave yet scared. Another good thing was race. In the field there is no black or white you are all brothers and this film touched on that nicely. I always find flaws in these movies and there were many little ones but it's to be expected. things like how well groomed these guys stayed and how clean their clothes were day after day, stuff like that does honestly makes me mad.The movie was good for a first watch, if you like dramas you will like it and if you like war movies it'll be a good one to check out. To me it did get extremely slow after the first ten minutes and didn't get laced with action until the last 30, which were great... 3 out of 10 stars.

Vietnam war film shot in 1st person POV. It really works and you feel that you are right there with the platoon who are on a recon mission in the jungle bush of Vietnam. This effort is surprisingly good and is more gritty and realistic than most war movies out there (not mentioning a few big budget titles). The acting is top notch and the original way it was filmed (over 10 years before Blair Witch) makes this one a gem to own in your vhs/dvd collection. I liked this film a lot and highly recommend it to any fan of 'Nam titles.