Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Stone's biographical drama is a masterpiece occupying a broader canvas than Platoon, with Tom Cruise utterly convincing as the wounded veteran turned anti-war activist. The film reeks of authentic experience and regret from Kovic and Stone.

The film is one of the best of the year and a powerful statement about an American changing his mind about the Vietnam War. It excels through Tom Cruise's transformative performance as Ron Kovic and its focus on ideology and personal experience rather than just battle or recovery.

Stone's collaboration with Kovic results in a gripping, devastating film that shows America to itself in an unforgettable way. It creates a portrait of a pure-hearted boy whose beliefs are shattered by Vietnam, with stunning performances from Cruise and Dafoe amid visceral realism.

The critic finds the film an operatic, iconography-laden epic that equates Ron Kovic's story with America's own journey from 1950s idealism to Vietnam-era disillusionment. Stone's excesses are noted but ultimately redeemed by the film's patriotic sweep and Tom Cruise's transformative performance.

The critic praises the film's moving portrayal of one man's extraordinary life across turbulent decades and Tom Cruise's remarkable, transformative performance as the standout element. Some flaws are noted, including an overlong and overwrought structure with uneven handling of politicization, but these do not detract from its overall impact and emotional punch.

In a profile of Oliver Stone, the film is praised for using American iconography to dramatize the shift from blind faith in military action to doubt and skepticism, presenting Kovic's arc as a potent symbol of generational change.

Oliver Stone has made a bitter, seething postscript to Platoon, adapting Ron Kovic's memoir into a film about a patriotic young man's journey from eager soldier to radicalized anti-war activist after being paralyzed in Vietnam. The critic highlights the story's emotional and political depth as a portrait of lost faith and radicalization.

The critic calls it a more ambitious and accomplished film than Platoon, with its strength in the intense depiction of a man stripped of dignity and sexuality by war injuries. Cruise delivers a powerful performance, though Stone occasionally sermonises.

Stone's film is a scream of rage at how Kovic was betrayed and neglected, while also showing his path to activism and an indictment of war. It is constructed as a series of heavy, meaningful blackout episodes with swelling music, committed to portraying the protagonist's total naiveté.

Stone's film touches the emotions powerfully through bravura emotionalism and Tom Cruise's excellent performance but fails to engage the mind on key issues like Kovic's political transformation. It is a passionate but overly loud moral lesson on the macho American mentality that led to Vietnam.

Stone delivers an outpouring of emotion centered on Ron Kovic's struggle, with Cruise giving a believable and relatable performance as the paralyzed veteran. The director's stylistic choices, including color temperature and slow motion, effectively highlight the story's themes and key incidents.

The critic finds the film a memorable epitaph to courage, praising Tom Cruise's capture of the character's fighting spirit and sequences of blistering brilliance at the hospital and in Mexico. The film is noted as too long with occasional lapses into soft-core romanticism.