It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

The first movie I saw that stars Tom Cruise is A Few Good Men. I hated that movie, and I think Tom Cruise is terrible in it. The major reason for me to hate that film is the blatantly simple thematic message of patriotism, and I thought Tom Cruise was bad because his character was just an archetype already used in thousands of other pictures and books before. The things I hate about A Few Good Men made me nervous in the first twenty minutes of Born On the Fourth of July, because it seems that this is another one of those movies that boast about the American patriotism simple-mindedly, with a most ordinary lead character giving out okay performance. Thank god the movie proved me wrong. Tom Cruise is amazing in this movie. It takes about five minutes to know if someone is talented in acting, and Tom Cruise has about ten of those five minutes in the movie. I don't know any other character's name, but most are pretty good. Another thing about the characters is that this is a very character-driven story, which makes every other character apart from Tom Cruise having only a minor role. This might be the reason for people to think the movie is not very fleshed out, because not even one character stays to the end: his first love leaves him, his fellow soldiers either die or go missing, his friends only appear from scene to scene, and his parents disappear towards the end. However, all the characters have clear motivations, and their appearance always helps convey the thematic message. The camera work is astonishing. The film plays with the lighting very well, to the point of exemplary. Also the director loves to use hand-held extreme close-up, and most of them are very well-handled. I would say one or two scenes do not work. The ending is obviously rushed, but it does not ruin the movie. Overall I would have one point off for the problems, and I definitely recommend it as a war/identity/patriotism genre movie.

Greetings from Lithuania."Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) is easily one of the few very best movies from inconsistent yet always interesting Oliver Stone. It sharply tells a story of Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise in one of his best performances (still!), a true young All-American patriot who came to fought to Vietnam driven by patriotic feelings and responsibility for his county, only to be forgotten by the same country later - and eventually his way to some sort of redemption (if you can call it like that)."Born on the Fourth of July" is probably not as good as Oliver Stone's best movie "Platoon" but it's easily stands second in my opinion. It has all the great movie should have - superb, involving and very true script, great directing (at 2 h 20 min this movie never drags for a second), superb acting by all involved - and like i said, it is a very true story. 10/10 - great movie.

Born on the Fourth of July is one of the more cheesier movies out there. In the beginning there is a line a mother says to her boy with a crazy smile as they are watching TV: "I had a dream, Ronnie, the other night, that you were speaking to a large crowd just like him…just like him, and you were saying great things"! And in the background a wondrous orchestral theme is playing. Now that particular line does pay off eventually, but large parts of the movie are like that: artificial and full of pomp and cheese, all for the sake of the message.That music keeps on coming back and it is always either the adventurous tune from every children's adventure movie ever or else the saddest tragedy tune. It really affects the mood of the movie and is one of the few movie scores that is persistently noticeable. This music on its own is good but in the film it is a major contributor to that cheesy feeling as it helps push the anti-war meaning.It is as if a hippie tried to do an anti-war movie and tried to stay respectful and tasteful. He thinks he is but he still can't help but push his point through in every scene.This brings me to another issue related to its pushy point: the issue with content variety. Of course a movie should have a point, but everything in this movie is about "war is bad". We see the young hero of the film being a promising young man and the rest of the film we spend watching the negative effects of war on him. Almost everything is related to that. Just pick a scene. Is war still bad? Yup, it is still bad. And how about this scene, what is the mood of this scene? War is bad. Even in the beginning, before the main character experiences war, the obvious music and themes remind you that war will be bad. It is only towards the end of the movie that something more positive and meaningful starts coming through but this is a long movie and you have to wait a while for that pay-off.This movie makes me appreciate The Thin Red Line more. That is another movie with an anti-war message but it is much more subtle. Born on the Fourth of July, just like its title, is not.Having said that, there is a point and a good structure to support it. Things seeded earlier in the story grow fruits later on. The progression in the main character and the change in his beliefs feels realistic and well-spread over the course of the film. There is also a good side to the movie being obvious, namely that it is clear and easy to grasp. Raw and dirty scenes may be forced in the viewer's face, but on the other hand the movie has interesting raw and dirty scenes that give the film texture.On top of that, the movie has a good cast of many familiar faces appearing in different parts of the film. Tom Cruise in the main role gives it his best as he usually does. It would have been cooler if Willem Dafoe stayed for longer in the movie than he did but maybe then he would have chewed the scenery too much and outweigh the film.Generally, the movie seems to get better as it progresses because the good structure starts becoming more and more apparent and the ideas start paying off, but I wish it was not so pushy.

Exactly 25 years ago today, I went to my normal, daily summer routine of watching everything and anything in the theatres. Mostly dollar cinemas – yeah, when they actually were a dollar, since I never had any real funds. Luckily, this movie was still playing and I thought so appropriate that I would see this on the Fourth of July. But, unluckily, the film broke half-way through the feature and we were all given free passes to return. I never did. Well, at least to this movie.Not that I didn't like it. I was actually getting into it. But, I had other movies to watch. Then, it obviously came to home video, but I never got around to it. Coincidentally, I chose the quarter of a century anniversary for me to finally return to it and finish it once and for all.I'm glad I did. It was an extremely well-made movie and far ahead of its time with its dealing with PTSD and a country divided. Yeah, this dealt with the Vietnam War, but, it fits events today as well. Cruise, who oddly enough was ALMOST born on the Fourth of July (7/3/62,) was excellent and it was heartbreaking what happened to the real-life character he played. Sadly, America's head got way too big from the WWs, and even though Korea was a bust, there was still enough patriotism to fool more men to go fight a no-win war. Thankfully, there were protesters, or people who stood up and questioned what was force-fed us.I'm getting a little political here, or, more accurately, anti- political, but that's this movie. I just happen to agree with it. Miserably, a lot of the same politics play today with more brainwashing and mercifully, there are still people who will stand up against the fear mongers. I digress. Very good movie and you shouldn't wait 25 years to see this. See it now.