‘The Last Full Measure’ doesn’t do its hero justice

Procedural and uninspired, the Vietnam War-focused melodrama “The Last Full Measure” isn’t as strong as its real-life hero.

Plucked right out of the Marvel Universe, Sebastian Stan (the Winter Soldier himself ), leads an ensemble cast of venerable veteran actors in this procedural drama. As fictional Pentagon staffer Scott Huffman, Stan exhibits biting cynicism and malaise fitting of a bureaucrat that’s boiled down to blandness in this overwrought movie.

He serves as the audience’s window into learning about a forgotten hero, William Pitsenbarger, and his sacrifice during one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.

Set more than 30 years after Pitsenbarger’s 1966 death during the Battle of

Xa Cam My, the film follows Huffman as he attempts to research the fallen Air Force Pararescue medic in hopes of awarding him with the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Unfortunately, Pitsenbarger (Jeremy Irvine) takes a backseat in the narrative framing of the movie. The hero who’s spoken about so much in this film is reduced to a just a flicker in flashbacks set through the perspective of those who remember him. There, in the hazy, dangerous jungle, the doomed airman makes the ultimate sacrifice by propelling down from the heavens to treat and save his comrades. One doesn’t really feel the full weight of his decision — or what it means. We’re just told through monologues about what ideas he represents.

Heavy-handed would be a generous way to describe the scenes of Huffman interviewing Army veterans (played by William Hurt, Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris and Peter Fonda, in his last onscreen appearance). Writer-director Todd Robinson has each share their harrowing viewpoints of what occurred with little development of who they actually are, save for how they were left scarred by what they saw. None can shake off the tragedy of war and remain indebted to Pitsenbarger’s valor.

They insist that it isn’t just about a well-deserved posthumous medal, but telling a story about a young man who made a fateful decision that saved several lives. Some in the government, like Huffman’s boss (Bradley Whitford), would prefer the story just get buried in paperwork, relegated for an intern to handle between coffee runs.

The hero’s parents, played by Christopher Plummer and Diane Ladd, give the most emotionally wrought scenes some nuance. As a grief-stricken and sick father, one actually worries that Plummer’s senior Pitsenbarger won’t get to see his son honored before meeting his own maker.

“Dying isn’t harder than losing a child,” he tells Huffman from a hospital bed.

Much of the film has a jerky, melodramatic urge to pivot sloppily between flashbacks and the present. The final voiceovers paired with Pitsenbarger’s march into the unknown carrying just a rifle practically telegraph “Please Cry Here.”

Unlike that medal that eluded Pitsenbarger’s memory for decades, “The Last Full Measure” doesn’t do its hero justice.