Well structured but rather cheesy anti-war movie

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2015)

Born on the Fourth of July is one of the more cheesier movies out there. In the beginning there is a line a mother says to her boy with a crazy smile as they are watching TV: "I had a dream, Ronnie, the other night, that you were speaking to a large crowd just like himjust like him, and you were saying great things"! And in the background a wondrous orchestral theme is playing. Now that particular line does pay off eventually, but large parts of the movie are like that: artificial and full of pomp and cheese, all for the sake of the message.
That music keeps on coming back and it is always either the adventurous tune from every children's adventure movie ever or else the saddest tragedy tune. It really affects the mood of the movie and is one of the few movie scores that is persistently noticeable. This music on its own is good but in the film it is a major contributor to that cheesy feeling as it helps push the anti-war meaning.
It is as if a hippie tried to do an anti-war movie and tried to stay respectful and tasteful. He thinks he is but he still can't help but push his point through in every scene.
This brings me to another issue related to its pushy point: the issue with content variety. Of course a movie should have a point, but everything in this movie is about "war is bad". We see the young hero of the film being a promising young man and the rest of the film we spend watching the negative effects of war on him. Almost everything is related to that. Just pick a scene. Is war still bad? Yup, it is still bad. And how about this scene, what is the mood of this scene? War is bad. Even in the beginning, before the main character experiences war, the obvious music and themes remind you that war will be bad. It is only towards the end of the movie that something more positive and meaningful starts coming through but this is a long movie and you have to wait a while for that pay-off.
This movie makes me appreciate The Thin Red Line more. That is another movie with an anti-war message but it is much more subtle. Born on the Fourth of July, just like its title, is not.
Having said that, there is a point and a good structure to support it. Things seeded earlier in the story grow fruits later on. The progression in the main character and the change in his beliefs feels realistic and well-spread over the course of the film. There is also a good side to the movie being obvious, namely that it is clear and easy to grasp. Raw and dirty scenes may be forced in the viewer's face, but on the other hand the movie has interesting raw and dirty scenes that give the film texture.
On top of that, the movie has a good cast of many familiar faces appearing in different parts of the film. Tom Cruise in the main role gives it his best as he usually does. It would have been cooler if Willem Dafoe stayed for longer in the movie than he did but maybe then he would have chewed the scenery too much and outweigh the film.
Generally, the movie seems to get better as it progresses because the good structure starts becoming more and more apparent and the ideas start paying off, but I wish it was not so pushy.