Cheap Born on the Fourth of July (Special Edition) (DVD) (Tom Cruise) (Oliver Stone) Price

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Customer Reviews of Born on the Fourth of July (Special Edition)

Apparently I'm the minority - I didn't like it.
To say that Cruise and Stone are seasoned is an understatement, so I expected this to be a classic that I had been missing for the last 15 years. Well, not really. <
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>This film was really exhausting for me. I thought it was too long, and I started to lose interest about 90 minutes in. It actually took two sittings for me to be able to finish it. The performance that Cruise offers is outstanding, but the not-so-subtle political narrative really struck me as routine and very predictable for Hollywood. <
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>The film skips a large portion toward the end in which Cruise emerges as a notable public speaker, but it isn't explained how or why. The film concludes, framing his story as a triumph of character not too dissimilar from Forrest Gump. I wish I had enjoyed it more. <
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>Top Gun and The Color of Money remain my choice Cruise films from the 80's.

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Amazing...
Good movies entertain. They make you laugh and cry. Great movies leave a mark on you. You think about the movie, what it means, and you talk about it for days. It changes your perception of things on many levels. This is one those movies. I am still in awe of the movie that I have watched maybe 6 times. Oliver Stone and Tom Cruise have brought a brilliant story about the war to life. <
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>First of, this is not exactly a war movie, but it revolves around a war. It shows the effects of the war to the people who were in it and the general public who have no idea what exactly is going on. This is a story of Ron Kovic, an all-American kid from Long Island. He is full of passion for his country and he believes in serving his country, not caring whether he dies in the process. He eagerly enrolls in the Marine Corp and before he knows it, he is sent to Vietnam fighting in the front line. Some things happen there that leaves a huge impact on Ron and also he was paralyzed from a battle with the communists. He finds himself in a hospital and they have to amputate his legs. He then returns home to find that not everyone sees eye to eye on the war situation in Vietnam, many look at him with embarassment and repulse. In an instant, he had gone from hero to zero. <
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>What really grabbed me about this movie was the story. It doesn't show the war in detail, but more what the war does to it's soldiers and the people involved. It's amazing how they show things from an individual's point of view. It shows the terrible effects of war that you just cannot watch on CNN. Through this movie, it opened my eyes that wars do not just leave towns/cities in destruction or leave people killed...it also effects the people who survived. The trauma and the pain they go through. It's hard to just pick up where you left. And yeah, everyone will be there when things are going well, but who'll be left when things go awry? When you lose your legs and need nursing? <
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>I have to say, kudos to Cruise for giving an Oscar-worthy performance. I honestly felt he deserved the statuette for this role. It's hard to imagine anyone else pulling of the part as perfectly as he did. From humble and innocent beginnings, to a torn and desperate man left scarred for life. You can feel the emotion he's going through all the way. It's not hard to imagine yourself doing the same if you were in his shoes. This role defined Tom Cruise as an actor, and he has definitely earned a place in my book as one of the best actors around. The movie also has a slew of talented actors but most appear in brief sequences but due to Cruise's brilliant performance, it doesn't really matter. <
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>Oliver Stone is one of the great directors of our time (other than Alexander) so his direction of this movie is no surprise, it's practically flawless. He does it so well, each scene is classic and invokes emotion that movies rarely create. And the score of the movie by John Williams is also fantastic. The music that appears in the parade earlier on in the movie, when the war veterans are marching by with broken legs and arms...kinda like a preview of things to come, brilliant! <
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>This movie will be remembered for a long time and it really makes you sad that wars are still going on around the world. You wish that those people could watch movies like this and realize that it destroys something more than nations or buildings, it destroys the very essence of life. To quote from Ron Kovic, "People say that if you don't love America, then get the hell out. Well, I love America". If you haven't watched this movie, you are missing something important in American cinema.

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The second-best movie of all time.
Based on the autobiography of Ron Kovic, this heart-wrenching, painful film is so extremely well done that if it were steak it would be burnt beyond recognition. Stone's directing, for which he won an Oscar, is flawless. <
>In his role, Tom Cruise plays a young, ambitious, patriotic Ron Kovic, itching to serve in Vietnam and fight for Democracy and American values. He leaves behind his girlfriend and his family for a chaotic, hellish war. His platoon kills women and children. With the heat and dust muddling his vision and the steady staccato of gunshots impairing his senses, Kovic fatally shoots one of his own men. On a similar day, a half-crazed, expletive-screaming Kovic is wounded. At a hospital overrun by the dying, Kovic's last rights are administered. You can see everything on Cruise's face: guilt, pain, fear and acceptance of death. <
>But he doesn't die; instead, he returns home a paralyzed misfit. His agonizing trials at home and in Mexico, where he goes to recuperate, follow. And just when it seems that Kovic will never overcome the painful memory of Vietnam and many missed opportunities, he realizes that bravery isn't jumping in uninformed to the misguided war of attrition. Ron Kovic shows what it is to be a true American: to fight for the truth.