A Decent Surprise out of Oliver Stone

Rating: 9/10 (29 November 2005)

Oliver Stone is no where near being the best director all time; that honor goes to Kubrick, Spielberg, or Hitchcock, But "Born on the Fourth of July" is way different from his other works. Some of Stone's other films, "JFK," and "Nixon," for example are very political as is "Born on the Fourth of July," but "Born on the Fourth of July" handles the nature of the politics in this film much differently and explores both points of view on the given topic as the main character switches his stance on war gradually throughout the film.
"JFK," and "Nixon," Oliver Stone's other political dramas both start out slow and start to lag in some areas, by means of slow pacing (strongly evident in "JFK,") and poor character development ("Nixon," even though America knows the real Nixon), but "Born on the Fourth of July" avoids these, which comes surprisingly to me considering it's an Oliver Stone film. The hues of color each scene was filmed in provides different feeling throughout the film instead of being left with the same feeling throughout the entire picture.
"Born on the Fourth of July" is the story of real-life activist Ron Kovic, played by Tom Cruise, based on his book and his screenplay co-written with Stone. In the 60's in the midst of the Vietnam War, as a high schooler, the teenage Ron Kovic is sucked into becoming a U.S. Marine through lies and half-truths. When the Marine Kovic gets to Vietnam, he engages in battle with Vietmanese villagers which results in him accidentally killing on of his squad. However, the U.S. military fails to realized the accidental killing by Kovic, thus adding to the lies and half-truths of the military.
It is in another battle where the real story of Ron Kovic begins to form. As he fights in another battle, Kovic signals men of his squad to come over when a bullet goes through the side of his chest severing the spinal cord and paralyzing him from waist down leaving him wheelchair bound for the rest of his life. It is in recovery in the mucky, filthy VA hospital where Kovic's strength and determination are put to the test-thorough the corruption of the doctors, and the neglect of the workers, and further injuries to his legs.
When he comes home, finds his life is completely changed, but yet, his entire family is changing their lives to help him more, but his younger brother, a teen against the war, outrages Kovic for going against his (Kovic) beliefs, saying the war is wrong. Over the course of several years, through ups and downs, Ron slowly realized the sin of war and he becomes an activist. This is just summarizing it up quickly though.
Kira Sedgewick, gives a satisfactory performance, but one that wouldn't have have made much of an impact if it weren't included. Willem DaFoe's performance is one that could have been edited out without any harm to the story line seeing as he is only in the film for what seemed like twenty minutes. It is for these unnecessary roles that don't give this movie a ten.
"Born on the Fourth of July" is movie different from other war/activist films and is one that should be appreciated for years to come.