Again Stone delivers

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2013)

Here's a movie, a harrowing tale, of a young boy, who avidly went over to fight in Vietnam, and came back the loser, but never gave up. From the opening scene we see the life through the eyes of real life vet, Ron Kovic, as a kid running around with a toy machine gun. As he grows up into his teens where the start of the Vietnam war is upon him, he enlists, despite the disapproval of his friends, one in particular, warning him, "You could get killed Ronnie, you ever think about that". A part of him does die over there, as also shown in Stone's Platoon, that being innocence. Before setting off, one thing he has to do, is kiss the neighborhood girl of his dreams, where he cuts in on a dance, as she had already been asked by someone else to the social. Missed your chance Tom. Cruise delivers a top floor performance playing on every emotion, of this true character, it's hard to look away from such excellent acting of his here. He just compels you. In particular, was the scene where after returning back, now a paraplegic, he broke down in front of the family, after cursing, and exposing a little of himself. We can really see Vietnam changed him. Another scene right up towards the end, notably, that took such brazen courage, was where he confronted the parents of another vet, he mistakenly killed. It's a thing that had to be done, as it must of been eating Kovic inside, though if was an additional part of the story, I don't know, and I would certainly apologize if it wasn't. We get the sense here and there, that this in an anti Vietnam movie, but it wasn't a nice war. This movie is top floor all he way, a beautifully shot period piece, with a top rate script and acting, with a few stars who return from Platoon in minor parts. I loved it, not only when Cruise nearly got clobbered in that bar, but later when he went down to Guatemala to hang out with other paraplegic vets, soaking up the sun, alcohol and whores, where Dafoe spouted a few funny but true lines, regarding those girls of ill repute, and endless card playing. The movie's flow is great, where we spend a significant, or more so perfect amount of time with Kovic before Vietnam, and enough time on the battlefield to understand the ugliness of this war, through all the red dust, explosions, and some heavy, sufficient dozes of violence. And then we have the aftermath, where Kovic's left to pick up the pieces. Like Platoon (where this film is rumored to have been better) again this will touch tender spots with Vets, but this is a great put together film, that Stone should certainly be proud of. It's a film that deserves to be seen, even if not seeing or being a fan of Platoon. Some people I know, reckon the film's crap, I almost want to clobber them. The demonstration after that guilty admittance by Cruise, where he made that speech was fantastic as well as that repeated verbalism: "One, two, three, four, we don't want your stinking war", I'd prefer "fu..ing war", but stinking sums it up, exactly.