Review of Born on the Fourth of July (1989) by Aidaliz M — 06 Feb 2008

Ron Kovic: People say that if you don't love America, then get the hell out. Well, I love America.

Tom Cruise stars as Ron Kovic in the second of director Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy. Stone worked with the real Ron Kovic in order to try and capture what happened in his life, from his early childhood, through his tour in Vietnam, and up to the eventual outcome surrounding his injury and what people thought about the war when he came back home.

The movie starts off by showing us Kovic in his home town, desiring to become a marine and be a war hero like his father and the other WWII vets that he sees.

We then shift to Vietnam, where Kovic sees and is a part of things that shock and hurt him. He is also shot, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

This leads to the bulk of the film, which is better than what came before it. Kovic goes back home to a changed country. People take sides as to how effective this war really is and what to think about the government.

Kovic also goes through mental anguish involving a number of things including what it means to be seen as a war hero, the loss of his legs, what America thinks of him, how he should think of America, and so on.

He goes through a tough odyssey of sorts involving the things he is forced to deal with concerning his life and family, and what to do next.

Cruise is very good in this role, probably among his best work as an actor. What would now easily be considered Oscar bait, playing a war hero paraplegic, is a testament to how good someone has to be to pull it off. His performance in this movie is probably overshadowed by Gary Sinese a few years later as Lt. Dan in Forest Gump, as that is probably more of a memorable film, but that shouldn't take away from how good Cruise is.

There is also a good supporting cast that includes Raymond J. Barry as Kovic's father, Kyra Sedgwick as the girl he left behind, a number of people that were all in Platoon, including Willem Dafoe, who comes in late in the film to spice things up.

The score of this movie, which I picked up pretty quickly as being from John Williams fits well with the themes of this movie. This goes with the style of the film visually as well. There are a lot of neat 'Stone' moments that one can recognize from the way they are setup.

Stone, always being recognized for his editing style, makes that apparent here again for having a picture that flows well enough and moves into each scene appropriately.

While verging on too depressing at times, mixed with enough profanity to hold anyone over for a week, this is a good story with a great performance from Cruise.

Ron Kovic: Sometimes, Stevie, I think people, they know you're back from Vietnam, and their face - changes: the eyes, the voice, the way they look at you, you know.

Steve Boyer: I know what you mean, Ronnie, but people here - they don't give a shit about the war! Yeah! To them it's just a million miles away. It's all bullshit, anyway. I mean, the government sold us a bill of goods and we bought it, and got the shit kicked out of us, and for what, huh?

Ron Kovic: What do you mean, "we," Stevie? You were in college, man.