More than one man's story, it’s a reminder of the rites of passage and disposal in a military complex built on failure and fattened pockets, of the meaningless muscle memory of carnage, of the plague war has (and will) cast on every American generation.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 16, 2025

Stone plays bumper cars with the camera and uses cutting to jam you into the action, and you can’t even enjoy his uncouthness, because it’s put at the service of sanctimony.

| Sep 12, 2023

It’s a taxing watch, but the themes are potent and timeless.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Aug 8, 2023

A score from John Williams and aggressive direction from Oliver Stone make this the pre-eminent Vietnam War movie.

| Jul 5, 2023

Aided by John Williams' majestic score and Oliver Stone's taut, no-holds-barred direction, this film shows the dark side of what happened when Johnny came marching home.

| Original Score: 4/4 | May 9, 2023

Stone made emotional gut-punches during this era that provided the opposite side to what patriotism is...

| Mar 7, 2023

Abysmally insincere. [Full review in Spanish]

| Nov 15, 2022

The basic core is powerful enough to transcend most of the flaws, and Cruise comes through with an edgy, furious performance.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 31, 2022

Stone niftily strings together a batch of cuttingly effective dramatic sequences.

| May 12, 2022

The eclectic and incredible cast assembled by Stone in this patriotic anti-patriot statement includes Tom Sizemore, Vivica A. Fox and James Le Gros...

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 15, 2020

The film internalizes Cruise's acting career from beef-cake adolescent lo gung-ho patriot within the Film's plot, transforms him into a serious actor by making him at once handicapped and ugly.

| May 20, 2020

This is not the boy next door. Maybe it never was.

| May 20, 2020

The actor gives a risky, allout performance that makes him an obvious Oscar candidate. But his sacrifice is squandered. By the end of Stone's 140-minute ordeal, it becomes gruesomely clear that the movie is bereft of ideas.

| Oct 11, 2019

As Kovic, Tom Cruise gives a performance that is adroit, moving and mature. The devices of fiction illuminate fact, but the film gains in power because we know that it is telling a true story.

| Apr 10, 2019

The movie is all glib explanation... banal in its obviousness and crass in its moralizing.

| Aug 15, 2018

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...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 10, 2018

...a tale of American masculinity undone.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 19, 2016

[UPDATED 2024 4K + BLU-RAY REVIEW] After playing back-up to Oscar-winning turns by Paul Newman in The Color of Money and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, Tom Cruise made his own awards run with this powerful drama.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 8, 2012

An exceptional feature on every level of execution, also displaying a rare sensitivity to Stone that he would spend the rest of his career trying to bury in violence and experimentation.

| Original Score: A | Jul 4, 2012

Unflinching story of Vietnam vet turned activist.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 2, 2011