Review of The Deer Hunter (1978) by Liam C — 18 Mar 2014

The Deer Hunter is a very, very rare example of a perfect film. It does everything right, an amazing heartbreaking story, fantastic pace, beautiful acting and everything else in between, there is literally nothing wrong with this movie that I can see.

Every movie I see with De Niro I say 'oh that was his best performance' but then I watch another movie where he out acts himself and I'm not sure if it can get any better than this. Robert De Niro in this movie was out of this world and I think it's his best and I'm sure many will disagree but that's the great thing about opinions.

He along with Christopher Walken dominated the screen, when they were there you were focused on them and nothing else mattered, it was so intense, so powerful and so perfect, it is unbelievable. One thing I appreciated and one thing I wish more films would do is that this film has perfect build up, it doesn't expect you to like the main protagonists just because they're the focus and we should like them just because, no, the first hour is the amazing build up with not much happening but by just showing normal people in their normal everyday lives we get to know them as real people and it works, the second hour is the war and the third hour is the aftermath and its all perfect and it makes the heartbreak even worse because we see before and after.

The infamous russian roulette scenes are just as gut wrenching as you've hear and the authenticity they went to create these scenes is even worse. Some of Walkens improvised scenes and Streep's own dialogue just add to the realism, its great and you should watch it the next chance you get.

Amazing story and direction but the acting makes it all the better.