Oliver Stone strikes again with his best work to date.

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 1999)

I know Oliver Stone has taken a lot of flack from historians and others in the know for his controversial pieces on American culture, but this time, he relies on the feelings of a real Vietnam veteran who has a change of heart about what is the American way. Tom Cruise, in his best acting job yet, plays Ron Kovic, a young man who enters Vietnam with more American spirit than you could ask for, but discovers the horror behind the patriotism. Stone, however, does not really concentrate on Vietnam, but rather on the disillusionment of Kovic after he returns to the homefront. The power of the Cruise performance will not easily be forgotten, told with emotion and strength. The images are incredible as well, exhilarating and haunting, a beautiful counterpoint of American triumph and the terror of Vietnam and its anti-demonstrators. Stone's last film, Platoon, didn't work as well for me because it seemed to have a point but kept disguising it with a lot of hoopla. Born on the Fourth of July has a major point, and represents it extraordinarily. This was one of 1989's best films (if not the best). Rating: Four stars.