1986
Directed by Oliver Stone
Man, am I sick of the "young, idealistic man goes off to war, becomes disillusioned." It's even worse than the "guy is a womanizer, meets quirky girl who changes him, guy gets girl" formula. At least that has hot people having sex. All we get is Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen and they don't even kiss.
Chris Taylor volunteers for combat duty in Vietnam. He is stationed near the Cambodian border and bonds with Sergeant Elias. Taylor becomes increasingly desperate as he must deal with attacks from the enemy, the harsh jungle, and the other sadistic soldiers, including the psychotic Sergeant Barnes.
So like I said, I am sick of Vietnam war movies. I get all the points they try to make: there is nothing romantic about war, no side is morally superior, loss of innocence, blah, blah, blah. It's nothing new. I sound completely heartless, as this is obviously a very personal story for Oliver Stone. But it definitely didn't open my eyes in any way. In fact, it closed them due to excessive boredom.
RATING: *----
Interesting Facts:
Banned in Vietnam because of its depiction of the Vietnamese.
Based on Oliver Stone's experience in Vietnam.
I enjoyed the movie though I remember it making me very sad. I just realized it has been 29 years since I saw it! That makes it difficult to remember all the parts, but it touched me.
ReplyDeleteOh wow I don't know if that is a good or bad thing.
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