An intense film made by Tom Cruise and Oliver Stone

Rating: 9/10 (22 March 2008)

I always felt that Tom Cruise was a great actor because he puts his heart and mind into all of his roles. In "Born on the Fourth of July", he illuminates the screen intensely as Ron Kovic, a young man who feels that it is his duty to serve his country in the war against "communism". After being paralyzed from his second tour of duty, he quickly develops a change of heart as he sees how the war has affected the nation from violent protests and his memories of combat haunt him. In the end, he learns that war brings nothing but sorrow and becomes an anti-war activist. I'm very, very surprised that Tom didn't get his Oscar for this.
Another huge factor that helped make the film's power was the cinematography by Robert Richardson. The battle scenes are tinted red, symbolizing blood. The dreams are in white, representing peace. The visions and other scenes of sorrow are blue. All three colors coincide with the American flag. I'm disappointed that this did not get Mr. Richardson his first Oscar. Uhm? The screenplay by Oliver Stone is pretty good, but his powerful direction makes the film more gripping. The score by John Williams is haunting, although some of it reminds me of The Patriot. In addition, the editing and sound was well-equipped.
The lack of character support by Willem Dafoe, Frank Whaley, and Kyra Sedgwick did not harm the film too much; however, I felt the movie left some side stories that could have been developed more like Ron's relationship with his girlfriend Donna. But I what bothered me was the unneeded f-bombs. There was hardly a swear word in the first twenty minutes. Then as soon as the war scenes come along, every character has a bigger mouth than Eric Cartman. I also felt some of the scenes of drug use and sex could have been left out. They added nothing to the story, just an increase of the R rating.
Nonetheless, I was captivated by this work of Oliver Stone and Tom Cruise. This is the sixth film I have seen made by Oliver Stone. Of those half a dozen movies, I find this to be his second best, right behind Platoon.