Was not what I expected.

Rating: 2/10 (9 November 2002)

I can't believe I got this movie. After the first 10 minutes, the boredom of the plot kicked in plus the never-ending wedding!
Summary: The story revolves around 3 friends, Mike, Nick and Steven, who have enlisted themselves and are on their way to Vietnam to fight the war. With only the weekend they have left as free men, Steven (John Savage) is set to get married. The wedding, which doesn't seem to end lasted well over an hour of the movie, then skips over to Nick and Mike, who decide to go with some friends and kill a few deer before they get sent away. Then the gigantic leap, the 3 guys are in Vietnam and are held prisoners by the Vietcong and there they learn to play the game of Russian Roulette...guys taking chances to see how long it takes them to empty the gun before the single bullet left in there blows ones head off for no reason...must be a guy thing. Then they escape and Steven ends up losing his legs and his arm and can't stand to go home so he stays at the Veteran hospital. Nick vanishes into the crowd of Saigon trying to find more action with Russian Roulette and Mike heads on home and shacks up with Nick's girlfriend. 3 hours of complete torture,
I found it amusing to see Robert De Niro (Mike) running naked in the middle of the night on the wet streets of Pennsylvania. I wonder if it was really him because that took guts although I really didn't understand why he felt the need to do so, okay I understand De Niro probably got paid enough to do that, but still, it was a shock! Nick, played by Christopher Walken was good, his attitude as the cold as ice guy, who stopped caring about his life and wanted to see how long it took for him to die was well thought out. It suited him. John Savage is a wonderful actor but he gets the worst roles I've seen to date. I must admit his only performance that I've really enjoyed is in the T.V series Dark Angel (Now canceled). He still brings out the best in the dead characters he plays.
I rate this movie a 2/10 ok that's too low, let's say 3/10.

Thank god I somewhat missed the 70's.