It's fair to say that this is an improvement from Uwe Boll's previous movies, but then again that's not saying much at all really.<br /><br />Not only did this movie lack balance in its portrayal of the Vietnam conflict (the Viet Cong are portrayed as misunderstood freedom fighters), but it completely lacked any real plot ark or character development.<br /><br />As a result it plays out like a long snuff movie with one violent death scene after another, until it all comes to a rather dull and sudden ending.<br /><br />The movie doesn't actually give the viewer any real background or important factual information about the US or Viet Cong tunnel rat soldiers, and as a result it starts by alienating the majority of its viewers who would know very little about this aspect of the Viet Cong war.<br /><br />The movie starts by introducing us to a series of characters - the US soldiers - and we are given some interesting background to these men's personal histories, but then this comes to a rather sudden dead end as soon as the fighting begins - at which point the development of these characters completely stops.<br /><br />We are also introduced to three main characters from the Viet Cong, but their development is even worse - with one character who has been given a very clichéd story about why he is so angry at the US, and another female character who obviously has reservations about the war, but this is never really developed any further.<br /><br />Once the war violence starts the movie spirals into a drawn out series of violent death scenes, with a poorly constructed and confused Viet Cong raid on the US camp - It actually appears to feature the same action sequences repeated several times, each time with different characters involved - basically it looks like Uwe Boll tried to make a very small base camp look huge with B-grade cinema tricks. (also, many of the actors don't appear to have been trained how to engage the enemy, or how to hold and shoot their weapons as soldiers of the Vietnam war era would have been).<br /><br />This movie was a real disappointment, and once the war scenes began it started to feel a little bit like a slasher flick or a Vietnam version of Predator (except without the Predator).<br /><br />In the end it never actually informs the viewer about the history or complicated issues of the Vietnam war, and it doesn't work as an anti-war film either - if Uwe was really trying to promote an anti-war message then it gets lost in a never ending haze of graphic violence.<br /><br />If you want to watch a movie that gives a more balanced portrayal of both sides, along with some important insights into the Vietnam conflict, and at the same time portrays the true horror of the Vietnam war without dishonoring the men who were forced to fight in it, then give Tunnel Rats a miss and watch We Were Soldiers instead.