Worth watching once... with fast forward at the ready.

Rating: 5/10 (7 August 2003)

I have no doubt that some people believe this is a really excellent movie, and maybe there right. I watched it for the first time recently after hearing many good things about it, however I was a little disappointed, mainly because of the over hype I read and heard, it's not a crap movie, just a long drawn out tail of a couple of guys who get married, go to Vietnam, and get messed up etc....
The movie starts out fine but moves very slowly, even when you reach the wedding scene you are beginning to get bored, but that's not it, next they go on a deer hunt which is really exciting (not!). I'm not looking for action and violence I just want something that keeps the viewer interested, I can hear someone shouting at me right now, your missing the point of the movie!!!!, maybe I have if only it would keep the interest of the viewer for long enough to GET IT. If this was watched in the theatre, you would have to view it from start to finish and that's probably why a lot of the mature generation get the point of the movie when they saw it for the first time, it was a real first when it came out back in 1978, and must have deserved all of 5 Oscars it received. I have to say when I watched it, I used the fast forward button a lot, not because I was in a hurry to finish it, but because I was bored of the sometimes pointless dialog. The Russian roulette scene sums up a lot about the movie and the acting is quite simply excellent and convincing, this scene is very tense and worth just renting it out just to watch this scene.
"IF" you are serious about watching this movie, watch it right through (unlike me, who is a little impatient). I like watching intelligent movies with a hidden message and all that... but I think I got all I wanted from this one, that's why I gave a neutral score of 5.
End of line....
This review is dedicated to Jerome and Phil, who believe in this movie so much.