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Born On The 4th of July: Special Edition
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Tom Cruise stars as Ron Kovic, a young man who wanted to be a solder and got his chance in the Vietnam war. Unfortunately, he's injured in battle and paralyzed from the chest down. He comes back to a country who was against the war and not sympathetic to him - he spends time in a hospital that can barely care for him and the other soldiers who were injured in the war. At home, he runs into a different battle - becoming an anti-war activist. Looking back on this performance, it's really a remarkable one from Tom Cruise, easily one of his best.
It's a dark film, but I don't find it that much of a downer. I think there's a lot of soul, especially in Cruise's performance, that makes the rather lengthy running time seem like much less, simply because this character involves us. Cruise acts with impressive intensity, and Stone does a very good job capturing the look and feel of the era.
The film gets even better as Kovic finds himself in Mexico trying to escape. We learn more about his character, and Cruise adds even more layers to the already detailed performance as Kovic, who gets darker before he finds his way back through protest of the war. Stone, who experienced the war himself, made an excellent movie, adapting Kovic's story to the screen wonderfully. A great and powerful film, but it's very unfortunate the picture quality here does not do justice to the great cinematography of Robert Richardson, who has done phenomenal work recently in such films as "Snow Falling on Cedars".
The DVD
VIDEO: Universal, much to the dissapointment of those who are going to get this disc, has decided to offer the same non-anamorphic transfer that they previously offered for their first edition of the film. Where studios like Tristar's first efforts still hold up today, Universal's first efforts are far less appealing. In fact, with the advances in picture quality lately with recent releases, this presentation is really unacceptable. It's pretty rare that I say this, but the film is simply hard to watch here.
The presentation certainly is sharp, but not in a very good way, looking "digital" and sometimes harsh. Detail and clarity are problematic during some of the scenes where the image quality doesn't fare as well. The image displays quite a bit of grain at times, along with enough shimmering to become quite irritating. Pixelation makes an appearance, as well. Print flaws do appear as well, but remain the least of the problems here, some of which seem to get even worse later in the film.
Colors aren't bad, looking bold and nicely saturated, with no problems at all. It really amazes me that with all of the advances in presentation since this presentation of the movie was first shown on the early release, that Universal would think it was acceptable to release again at this point. It's not. This is definitely not a good presentation and its a shame because the film deserves a far better one.
SOUND: On the other hand, the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack isn't half bad. Although not to the point of "Saving Private Ryan" or "The Thin Red Line", surrounds really do come alive with the action during the battle scenes, more than I'd expected from an older film. Although not seriously powerful, there is some light force behind these sequences.
The rest of the audio presentation is highlighted by the enjoyable John Williams score, which sounds clear and crisp. Dialogue is also very nice, sounding natural and clean, always understandable. Although maybe not as agressive as recent films, it remains a pretty effective soundtrack.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, with very basic images serving as backgrounds.
EXTRAS: Although the commentary is very good, I find it odd that Universal is calling this a special edition when there really isn't anything else on the disc; no trailer - just cast/crew bios & production notes.
Commentary: The one thing that really makes this the version of the film on disc to get is the commentary by director Oliver Stone. It's easily one of the better commentaries I've heard all year, with Stone providing a highly intelligent commentary talking about the story of the film and providing his own viewpoints on the war that he experienced. He also contributes facts about the production, whether technical or stories from the set about events that went on. His memories of history are absolutely fascinating, and Stone's subtle voice brings the viewer in further. It's one of those commentaries where when there's silence on the track, you find yourself waiting intensely for the next statement. I hope to hear more Stone commentary tracks in the future.
Final Thoughts: The film is certainly very good; it's unfortunate that the disc is not up to the presentation. Although the sound is good, the picture quality does not do the film justice, and makes it almost hard to watch at times. What makes this the version of the movie to get is the Stone commentary, which is really fascinating to listen to. Overall though, the disc is a dissapointment from Universal and I would have liked more features from a disc that's called a "special edition". "Recommended" only because this is probably the best edition of the film on DVD right now, although with the poor picture quality, that's not saying a lot.
Tom Cruise stars as Ron Kovic, a young man who wanted to be a solder and got his chance in the Vietnam war. Unfortunately, he's injured in battle and paralyzed from the chest down. He comes back to a country who was against the war and not sympathetic to him - he spends time in a hospital that can barely care for him and the other soldiers who were injured in the war. At home, he runs into a different battle - becoming an anti-war activist. Looking back on this performance, it's really a remarkable one from Tom Cruise, easily one of his best.
It's a dark film, but I don't find it that much of a downer. I think there's a lot of soul, especially in Cruise's performance, that makes the rather lengthy running time seem like much less, simply because this character involves us. Cruise acts with impressive intensity, and Stone does a very good job capturing the look and feel of the era.
The film gets even better as Kovic finds himself in Mexico trying to escape. We learn more about his character, and Cruise adds even more layers to the already detailed performance as Kovic, who gets darker before he finds his way back through protest of the war. Stone, who experienced the war himself, made an excellent movie, adapting Kovic's story to the screen wonderfully. A great and powerful film, but it's very unfortunate the picture quality here does not do justice to the great cinematography of Robert Richardson, who has done phenomenal work recently in such films as "Snow Falling on Cedars".
The DVD
VIDEO: Universal, much to the dissapointment of those who are going to get this disc, has decided to offer the same non-anamorphic transfer that they previously offered for their first edition of the film. Where studios like Tristar's first efforts still hold up today, Universal's first efforts are far less appealing. In fact, with the advances in picture quality lately with recent releases, this presentation is really unacceptable. It's pretty rare that I say this, but the film is simply hard to watch here.
The presentation certainly is sharp, but not in a very good way, looking "digital" and sometimes harsh. Detail and clarity are problematic during some of the scenes where the image quality doesn't fare as well. The image displays quite a bit of grain at times, along with enough shimmering to become quite irritating. Pixelation makes an appearance, as well. Print flaws do appear as well, but remain the least of the problems here, some of which seem to get even worse later in the film.
Colors aren't bad, looking bold and nicely saturated, with no problems at all. It really amazes me that with all of the advances in presentation since this presentation of the movie was first shown on the early release, that Universal would think it was acceptable to release again at this point. It's not. This is definitely not a good presentation and its a shame because the film deserves a far better one.
SOUND: On the other hand, the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack isn't half bad. Although not to the point of "Saving Private Ryan" or "The Thin Red Line", surrounds really do come alive with the action during the battle scenes, more than I'd expected from an older film. Although not seriously powerful, there is some light force behind these sequences.
The rest of the audio presentation is highlighted by the enjoyable John Williams score, which sounds clear and crisp. Dialogue is also very nice, sounding natural and clean, always understandable. Although maybe not as agressive as recent films, it remains a pretty effective soundtrack.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, with very basic images serving as backgrounds.
EXTRAS: Although the commentary is very good, I find it odd that Universal is calling this a special edition when there really isn't anything else on the disc; no trailer - just cast/crew bios & production notes.
Commentary: The one thing that really makes this the version of the film on disc to get is the commentary by director Oliver Stone. It's easily one of the better commentaries I've heard all year, with Stone providing a highly intelligent commentary talking about the story of the film and providing his own viewpoints on the war that he experienced. He also contributes facts about the production, whether technical or stories from the set about events that went on. His memories of history are absolutely fascinating, and Stone's subtle voice brings the viewer in further. It's one of those commentaries where when there's silence on the track, you find yourself waiting intensely for the next statement. I hope to hear more Stone commentary tracks in the future.
Final Thoughts: The film is certainly very good; it's unfortunate that the disc is not up to the presentation. Although the sound is good, the picture quality does not do the film justice, and makes it almost hard to watch at times. What makes this the version of the movie to get is the Stone commentary, which is really fascinating to listen to. Overall though, the disc is a dissapointment from Universal and I would have liked more features from a disc that's called a "special edition". "Recommended" only because this is probably the best edition of the film on DVD right now, although with the poor picture quality, that's not saying a lot.
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