YMMV / Casualties of War

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• Awesome Music: Ennio Morricone does not disappoint.
• Awesome Moments:
  • Eriksson hitting a thrown grenade in mid-air with a grenade from his launcher. Even more so that it actually happened.
  • Eriksson smashing Clark in the face with a shovel.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Early on, Clark instructs Eriksson to just say "I'm sorry about that" when something bad happens to the natives. Eriksson, still in shock about the actual kidnapping of Oanh, just says "I'm sorry".
• He Really Can Act: Michael J. Fox was widely praised for his intense performance in a dramatic role where he was not only Playing Against Type, but also in a film of a completely different genre from the comedies he was best-known for.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • While doubling as a Tear Jerker, Eriksson's relationship with Oanh, as he tries to care for her and protect her. His attempts to try and ease her pain are nice to see, especially after all she has been through. Though this also adds to the tragedy of the situation, as his efforts still fail to save her.
  • Eriksson's interactions with the residents of the river village.
• Moral Event Horizon: If Meserve and Clark didn't already cross it when they kidnapped Oanh and made her their sex slave, they definitely do so when they murder her.
• Narm: The death of Oanh on the bridge, if you don't see it as Nightmare Fuel. First she's shot, then stabbed, then she falls off the bridge, and the the whole area is bombed by US aircraft. It's so over-the-top horrible that it recalls Ludwig's death in The Naked Gun.
  • The scene where dramatic music swells as Eriksson delivers the moral of the film — that horrible conditions are no excuse for horrible behavior — can also be seen as this, verging on Oscar Bait territory.
• Nightmare Fuel: LOTS, often crossed with Tear Jerker.
  • The early scene where Eriksson falls into a hole and is halfway trapped. Said hole happens to be a part of a VC tunnel... and one of them is slowly crawling towards his dangling legs with a knife. Luckily, Meserve manages to save him just in time.
  • The scene where Clark walks alongside Oanh and mockingly sings "Hello, I Love You" to her is downright chilling.
  • The horrible treatment of Oanh, most notably her murder on the bridge. Earlier, she is stabbed repeatedly by Clark, but she survives and stumbles across the bridge in the middle of a firefight in a dazed attempt to escape. Meserve and the others catch on, and, despite Eriksson's attempts to stop them, she is shot to death and falls from the bridge. That screaming...
• Retroactive Recognition: Along with being the acting debut of John C. Reilly, this also marks the earliest appearances of John Leguizamo and Ving Rhames.
• Tear Jerker: Brownie's death and everything involving Oanh.
• The Woobie: Poor, poor Oanh.

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