Overrated Nonsense!

Rating: 3/10 (29 April 2002)

I can't believe that The Deer Hunter won five Oscars, primarily because its story doesn't make any sense.
First of all, I'm positive that the writers of this film don't know anything about military service. How can De Niro and his native friends get drafted in the same platoon? It's impossible that Uncle Sam would make such an arrangement for them pals.
Secondly, Meryl Streep and some friends are gathered in their home town to welcome De Niro as he is returning from battlefield, but he avoids seeing them. How do they know he's coming back if De Niro hasn't phoned them earlier?
Thirdly, De Niro has a hard time finding one of his comrades, John Savage, who is hospitalized and doesn't want anybody to know his miserable condition. Yet Savage has been receiving "American money" from Christopher Walken in Vietnam. How does Walken know where he is? especially when Walken is already half-crazy at the time.
You can't make a film without real experiences. This Vietnam War turkey is miles behind Oliver Stone's Platoon.