KHS Response..

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2013)

#2. The different personalities of the three men (Steve, Mike and Nick) before they go to Vietnam and how it serves them as soldiers. Did their different approaches towards life serve as an accurate prelude to what was to happen? Could it have happened differently? Ohhh man, these three men are so different, and yet I love each one of them! Stevey, clearly the young, sensitive, and even fragile man of the group showed his personality as early on as the first scene when he is hanging out with his friends. His mother comes into the scene telling Steve what he can and cannot do and telling him to get home. He then divulges to Nick, at his own wedding, that his wife is pregnant... The problem is obvious when Steve explains that him and his wife have not yet slept together. Later, in Vietnam, Steve seems to be more affected by the torture of the Vietnamese than the rest of the gang, as he struggles to fight back his panic attacks.
Nick, the more fun-loving friend, professes his love to his friend, Linda, at Stevey's wedding... He is spontaneous! He is sweet and a great friend, (He comforts Stevey and Mike/balances them out a few times in the beginning). When he is in Vietnam, the Russian Roulette reallllyyy messes with his head, and I suppose leaving Mikey behind did too. While he is missing, he begins to play Russian Roulette for money and seems to have P.T.S.D. Buuuuut he sends Steve the money he makes, which shows he still had intentions of looking after him. Although we are supposed to see the huuuge connection with his character at the beginning to the character we see later on; I did not.. The only biiigg connection I see is that Nick and Steve depended on Mike throughout the whole movie.. He was sort of their rock.
Ohhhh Mikey. He was the best hunter out of his friends.. Deer hunter.. Ha! Mike is always very calm (disregarding one drunk scene), and is usually the level-headed one of the group, but there is a slight sense of resentment in everything he does at the beginning.. I believe that Mike felt as though he was being taken advantage of, but then again he knew he was the unspoken leader of the group. This showed as the three buds progressed through Vietnam. Nick and Stevey depended on Mikey for the answers and their next move, and when he wasn't there, they were lost. Mike came out of Vietnam disturbed no doubt, but clearly better off than Nick or Stevey.