A Haunting and amazing biopic that will touch your heart

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2017)

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