I for one really enjoyed this mini-series, from the first episode to the last, it really has a lot of entertainment value. For the record, I am a currently a double major in history and political science and I would most definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested.Warning: it is fairly one sided towards the American perspective, but that does not mar it in my opinion, it just requires a conscious acknowledgment of that prior to watching it. With that said, for entertainment value it was great ( 10/10 ), turn it up full blast and for a spilt second you might actually forget feel like you are there. The footage was great and very powerful at times.To get the most out of this mini-series I would suggest doing some reading prior to watching it (or after if you are truly impatient), but I believe most will have at least a working knowledge of what Vietnam was about. But like others have said, for a more in depth understanding of this war, it is critical to look somewhere else. Overall this was a thrilling documentary (or mini-series) that holds a lot of entertainment value and for those who can look past the one sided nature and biases of it, you will walk away satisfied. For the more cynical of critics, this may seem like a Hollywood production glorifying the war and justifying American heroes. However, for the most part this does not glorify the Vietnam but rather tries to recount history by jazzing it up a bit.

yes, the footage is good, but as someone who's (too) familiar with combat situations and the history of war (the Vietnam war as well), I must say this isn't a documentary. The series try too much to show the US as the winning side in the conflict instead of covering the other aspects of the war. see how they emphasize the concept of "winning" after each and every scene and battle. If I had to summarize the purpose behind this series it would be "lets show all the great footage we got and present it as if America actually won the Vietnam war".There are no winners in war. war is nothing more than a military means to a political end. it suck. it's horrific. but this series don't deal with the political aspects around the Vietnam war, so winning has nothing to do with it. This series claim to cover the historical aspect, so what's with all the claims of "we've won" this and "we've won" that.Military is all about combat, tactics, weapons etc. but to understand war is to understand how we, as people, react to all the different aspects of it. If you're interested in the history of Vietnam war then I suggest you look elsewhere. Start by reading the "dull" history facts, then watch "china beach" to learn of the human aspects and the side-effects, and then try to get your hands on "secrets of war - Vietnam - hidden in plain site" (by the History channel) to understand how it looked from the VC side.Learn about war so if you ever forced into one, at least be aware of the true nature and ramifications of it, on both sides.

I'm giving this one a 5 for the footage. It's nice to see so much original footage and that's what I'm always looking for. I admire the people with the cameras in the field. So using their footage means giving them credit for what they did. They shot with cameras, not with guns. Too bad, however, that it's almost all US footage, almost no North VN footage was used.Other than that, this is yet another very one-sided documentary of the Vietnam war. From the first second to the last everything shouts "look at us heroes, we're so awesome, we did so good". Americans seem to be utterly incapable of objectively reporting on the subject of war. It seems to me that with every documentary on the subject they're doing all they can to cover up the fact that they got their asses kicked. By a much weaker force by the way. Just admit it and move on. Terrible things happened and those are the facts. That's what I want from a documentary, the facts! Not a deep-sounding voice telling me how difficult some General's decision was, how long he had to think about it just to portray him as a good guy. State the facts please, and leave it at that. Don't put the ever-American gloss over it to make it look more than it is.Conclusion : If you want a 50/50 mix between some Band Of Brothers with some info put in and everything video and audio pointing out they were incredible heroes, than watch this. If you're looking for a good documentary stating the facts and looking at this war from both sides, keep looking, this is not it.

What strikes me most about this series is how it is possible, even necessary, for Americans to take this most colossal of domestic and international blunders and attempt to ennoble it with fancy language about "buddies" and "honor" and "sacrifice" and other words that are, shall we say, incompatible with the utter annihilation of generations here and there.To say this series is bad would be incorrect. What it is, is somehow disgusting jingoism. The fake-dramatic music, the lap dissolves, the Times Roman font, the narration of simplistic statements made to sound deep by the hammy-sounding readers - it is deeply repellent, even more so than the earlier "WWII in HD" was repellent. One should learn from his mistakes and correct them. That's something Americans don't seem to understand. War-mongering is only compatible with victory.Reviewer's update: The series ends with a predictable paean to militarism from the veterans featured in the series, which is grossly offensive, comparing those who returned from the modern catastrophes in Iraq and Afghanistan (the latter ongoing) to themselves. They have, I suppose, the right to this opinion in compensation for their respective ordeals. But at least this conclusion is a consistent ending to a series that attempts to ennoble a moral, political, and societal catastrophe. This is simply not possible. Those who are predisposed to accept that America is a militaristic state with the God given right to throw its destructive weight around regardless of consequences, will find the series compelling. Those who prefer the position of Washington, Jefferson, Grant, Eisenhower, etc. will be filled with a combination of remorse and revulsion.