Who is the Audience for This Movie?

People who like stories about character transformation.

What I Liked About This Movie

Opening sequences with Ron as a young child and as young man were perfect. To add a little flavor to the proceedings a sub plot involving a crush wit a girl was added. The relationship between Ron and the girl is quite sweet; I would say it is the one aspect of the movie that hits its intended emotional impact perfectly.

Tom cruise puts on a good show for the audience. His portrayals of Ron at different points in his life are all drastically different from each other. Cruise brings the rollercoaster of a life Ron Kovic lived to the screen with a lot of intensity.

Stone always has a good eye for epic shots and as you would expect Born on the Fourth of July contains great cinematography. Most notable are his scenes in which he uses silhouettes. Music used in the movie also adds a fitting tone at the right moments.

What Didn’t Work For Me

The Vietnam War is the catalyst for the entire story yet it is only a small chunk of the movies running time. Within that time there are a few poignant scenes but considering how many times his experiences in the war are referenced I feel more time should have been spent on the war section of the movie.

Aside from a few stirringly emotional scenes I felt unengaged during many moments that the movie wants you to care about. Oliver Stone tends not to be very subtle with his use of emotion and there are many obvious attempts to force emotion on you littered through the movie. The editing used between the numerous sections of movie is very jarring, leaving many key characters/situations in the dust on a moments notice to move onto something new.

Should You Watch This Movie?

I would, even though it does have a few flaws.

My Rating (Out of 13)