Did you people see the same film I saw?

Absolutely Fantastic

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Stone has never been big on subtlety, & Born on the 4th has its moments of projection & overtness. Mostly though, it's a powerful, epic & overwhelmingly emotional journey into a soldier's psyche. The breakdown scene in the family's house is one of the all-time greats in cinema: heartbreaking, frustrating, enraging, & even uncomfortably funny. Cruise has never been better, covering as many emotions & head spaces as the film does, all while staying fully within the singular character

"Born on the Fourth of July," Oliver Stone's return to the subject of the Vietnam War, one he knows intimately, shows a different side of the war's impact than "Platoon" and frames it powerfully in the course of American history. Rather than craft a heavily editorialized anti-war message as he's been wont to do, Stone focuses on a real-life protagonist whose story says it all, veteran Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise).The journey of this movie is Kovic's transformation from all- American, patriotic, devoted Christian marine volunteer to a vocal, unapologetic Vietnam War detractor, and all the bumps and bruises (inside and out) he endured along the way. It is a caution against radical patriotism and a reminder of the conflicts that divide the United States from within, not from abroad.The film begins with glorious snippets from idealistic 1956 America in Kovic's hometown of Massapequa on Long Island, New York and the subsequent years until Kovic enlisted in the marines. Like so many young men born in the 40s, they grew up on stories of their fathers and fathers' fathers serving in the world wars and felt called to do the same. The story than moves to a few frantic war sequences in Vietnam, where Kovic was shot and paralyzed, and his far from flattering rehabilitation before returning home in 1969. Not long after his homecoming, his long-held patriotic values and beliefs begin to unravel as he sits with the reality of his situation.In his first demanding role, Cruise captures both ends of Kovic's spectrum. He's young enough to play the wide-eyed high schooler and young soldier, and he pushes himself in impressive directions as the much older, jaded and deeply troubled Kovic. His casting is particularly meaningful given the way audiences had come to know him in the '80s as the pretty boy hero, which is Kovic at his essence in the first act of the film. Then to dismantle that perfect image and show the audience something they hadn't seen from him before really hammers home Kovic's transformation.Given the film spans 20 years, Stone also has to weave its many components together into a single story. He doesn't quite pull it into a tight and centralized narrative (though in fairness the story doesn't lend itself to that), but he gives each act of the film its own space and tone that reflects not just Kovic's personal narrative but the American narrative. The red-hued war sequences and rehab sequences are of particular note for the way Stone achieves frantic chaos in an artistic and poignant way.Kovic's internal struggle makes sense and in many ways is par for the course as he deals with PTSD, guilt and the loss of his lower extremities, so the cultural touches really make the film interesting almost 30 years later. Stone drops in a few characters singing Bob Dylan songs in quiet moments, for example, to convey the cultural shift that took place in America following the Kennedy assassination and into the Vietnam War and subsequent (and consequent) counterculture and protest movements and race riots.Being able to observe this dramatic swing in American human history that Kovic's story captures so well has a nostalgic resonance, but "Born on the Fourth" doesn't feel as personally moving. Kovic's ordeal reveals a lot of ugly, stomach-churning, blood-boiling truths about that time and the experience of many Vietnam vets, but the way Kovic grows into his new perspective and purpose doesn't latch on emotionally in the way you'd expect despite following his life for two hours. His moments of epiphany are logically apparent, however, and Stone gives us a brilliant juxtaposition that ties everything together in the film's climactic 1972 Republican National Convention protest scene, which shows the way Kovic has turned into a different kind of soldier and different kind of patriot through both dialogue, imagery and filmmaking technique reminiscent of earlier scenes.In ways, Kovic's story isn't as fascinating as America's story in "Born on the Fourth of July," but Stone nails the latter and gets enough of the former right to the point that the film should have relevance for a long time.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

Oliver Stone followed up his Oscar winning epic, "Platoon", with this gripping tale based on a true story about a Vietnam veteran and his struggle to return to a normal life following his time in Vietnam.Based on Ron Kovic's memoir of the same name, the film follows the initially idealistic Kovic as he goes off to war a naive and determined young solider who is injured in the line of duty and becomes a paraplegic. When Ron returns home, the brave young man is soon ridiculed and spat on by the local population for daring to serve in a war that the United States had grown to despise as so many young soldiers lost their lives and unrest grows with war protesters and local law enforcement butting heads in a divided country.Playing the real-life figure of Ron Kovic is a beyond phenomenal Tom Cruise. Fresh off successes like "Top Gun" and "The Color of Money", the normally pretty boy actor took on the difficult role of a man who must grow from a naive youth to a disillusioned veteran who has become disheartened by his paraplegic status and how the Vietnam War has torn apart the country he had fought so hard to protect. Cruise is never afraid to portray the pain of Kovic after he is injured in a firefight of bullets and left paralyzed from the waist down or when Kovic's mother (Caroline Kava) starts trying to spout religion in the disillusioned Ron's face upon his return. The actor displays an anguish that just tears at the heart as Ron realizes how altered his life will becomes after he learns he can't ever walk again or do other functions without assistance which only increase the depression the young man feels as he must try to move on. Cruise displays believable chemistry with actress Kyra Sedgwick who plays Ron's old flame, Donna, who is against the war from the start and tries to convince Ron to stay away and when Ron returns, Donna recruits Ron to join the anti-war movement in New York. The other most notable co-star chemistry between Cruise and another actor besides Sedgwick is when Kovic spends time in Villa Duce where he meets fellow paraplegic, Charlie played by "Platoon" veteran Willem Dafoe. At first both Ron and Charlie are so similar due to both their disabilities and service for their country, but as time wears on and Ron's anger about his treatment due to his service grows he and Charlie start to become polar opposite personalities; Charlie being content to accept what has happened in contrast to Ron's disillusionment. When it comes to a scuffle between the actors, the tension is palpable as contrasting ideals battle for the win, ending up with Dafoe's Charlie being unseated and defeated while Cruise's Kovic ends back to civilization. Personally approved of by the film's subject himself, Ron Kovic (who rewarded star Tom Cruise with his (Kovic's) Bronze Star), the film never loses its serious tone despite some lighthearted early scenes and some humor thrown in while Ron is in Villa Duce. Director Oliver Stone, being a Vietnam veteran himself, shows sympathy for his subject's plight but portrays Kovic as a flawed human being who makes an error in judgment and deal with the consequences while trying to improve himself. Ron ultimately achieves a form of redemption when he becomes (and remains so) an anti-war activist, standing up for what he now believes is right for America. A worthy follow-up in Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy, this film is worth the time

Born on the Fourth of July is Oliver Stone's film about a U.S. soldier's journey from war supporter, to Vietnam combat veteran, to anti-war activist. The film is based on the true story of Ron Kovic, who enthusiastically bought into the militaristic propaganda peddled by Army recruiters, and enlisted in the military to serve his country in Vietnam. Once there he kills a fellow soldier in a friendly fire incident following the murder of Vietnamese civilians, and then he himself is almost killed in the firefight. The film takes us through his recovery process, both physically and ideologically, as Kovic suffers through the bureaucratic failings of the VA health care system, and begins to see that he was fooled, starting early in life, into supporting a criminal imperialistic nation. It's a powerful film about discovering the truth hidden behind propaganda and the political awakening that results when you stop living in denial and follow the truth to its logical conclusions. Born on the Fourth of July is Stone at his most effective, balancing his bold artistic sensibilities with a well crafted narrative, and Tom Cruise turns in one of his career's best performances in a role that showed why he is a major acting talent as well as Hollywood's biggest star.