One Shot... watch it.

Rating: 10/10 (8 July 2005)

This should be a lot higher up the list. It is definitely for me if no one else, the best war film ever created.
It revolves around three steel workers of a sleepy Pennsylvanian town, who after basking in the delights of family and friends, and taking the time to go deer hunting in which they find happiness and freedom, they come face to face with the horrors of war. The hour long introduction to the three main characters played sublimely by Robert DeNiro (Michael), Christopher Walken (Nick, Who won Best Supporting Actor at the 1978 Oscars, and deservedly so), and John Savage (Stephen) offers a long and beautifully slow view of these people who by the end of the first hour you really feel close to. And then everything takes an abrupt twist. These men are thrown into the Vietnam war, out of the niceness comes the horror, and I think the contrast is amazing. (The long introduction that shows the cosiness and happiness these men once knew shocks you to the core and I think Michael Cimino shows this part off brilliantly. I have heard many say the first part drags on too long, yet I think this adds to the impact when the war is suddenly turned on). They end up in a POW camp being forced to play Russian roulette or else they die. This is probably one of the most graphic parts of the film, and it clearly shows that friendship and unity prevails as they do end up escaping desperately, trying to keep their lives in the place in which to keep it is a very hard thing to do. The war aspect is exceptionally well filmed by Michael Cimino and illustrates the darkness that you would expect from war. You won't find many better pictures of war better than this.
As the men separate after escaping, they end up in different places, Nick stays in Vietnam and plunges himself into the dark underworld that breathes beneath the surface of the war, although he pleaded for Michael to make sure he got home during the first part of the film (So clearly the first half of the film lingers on, and you really can feel the heartbreak as they are split up). Michael goes home, and Stephen winds up in a disabled hospital for veterans of the war. As Michael tries to get back to the sleepy attitude of the town he ends up being awash with guilt and returns to Vietnam, on a mission to reunite himself with his friends, and the end scene between him and Nick is heart-wrenching, and one of the best finale's to a film you will ever witness, it is unbeatable. I love it, you will too, it is a long one, over 3 hours long, but the length does not harm the viewing pleasure. It is an epic, watch it please you've only got one shot.