Born on the Fourth of July

Based on true events, Born on the Fourth of July details Ron Kovic’s (Tom Cruise) transformation from gung-ho, Vietnam-era American soldier to paraplegic anti-war and pro-human rights political activist. There’s ultimately little doubt that Born on the Fourth of July benefits substantially from Cruise’s engrossing and often electrifying turn as the tortured protagonist, as the movie, directed by Oliver Stone, suffers from a decidedly familiar atmosphere that’s compounded by a palpably overlong running time – with Stone and Kovic’s screenplay dwelling far too long on certain things and not long enough on others. (It does feel like, for example, that Ron’s stint at a military hospital goes on forever.) It’s nevertheless impossible to deny the power and impact of several key sequences (eg even that military hospital stuff possesses a visceral uneasiness that’s impossible to deny), and yet it’s equally clear that the movie’s lack of momentum makes it difficult to wholeheartedly care about or sympathize with the central character’s exploits (ie the film is really only effective and affecting in short bursts). The end result is a fairly middle-of-the-road war picture that could’ve used a great deal of streamlining, with the movie, on the whole, succeeding more as a showcase for Cruise’s top-shelf performance than as a fully-realized and consistently entertaining piece of work.

**1/2 out of ****