It was a strange review. Not my typical style for sure. I actually thought once I got my personal prejudice out of the way the rest would be my usual over-intellectual film analysis. However, the response shows my reaction was still closely tied to my backseat driver analysis. Would I still be iffy-sniffy if space exploration led to the cure for cancer or the technology that unleashed the personal hovercar? Probably not. I gave the film an above average rating. I did like it. My review came directly from the thoughts I had while watching, which only further shows this was not a transporting, lyrical experience for me like Baraka or 2001. It was the best possible souvenir of an interesting period in World History. That's all I got.
Johnny got His Gun
Like many people of my generation, I first heard about this film through the groundbreaking video by Metallica, which would accent the lengthy guitar bombast with images and dialogue from the film. I'd seen the video so many times, I avoided the film because I knew it would just be a longer version, fully spoiled. Plus, the title and plot sounded better suited to a 9 minute musical sledgehammer than a 110 minutes cinematic one.
There is a lot of overdone style to the film. You wouldn't be surprised if it were directed by young Oliver Stone. Instead we have the single feature of acclaimed writer Dalton Trumbo. He's a much better writer, but there's a freshness to the film and its approach to narrative I gradually warmed up to. Timothy Bottoms does not have a strong voice to give much oomph to his dialogue, which is unfortunate because half the performance has Bottoms without everything else. (Though he doesn't give much oomph while whole either.) From his beginning realization to his final pleas for mercy, he never makes the situation sound any more dire than a flat tire. Some of the other unfamiliar faces are also rather flat. Thank heaven for the gravitas of Jason Robards and the perfectly pitched Donald Sutherland.
The other great performance is Diane Varsi as a saintly nurse who ultimately breaks through and forms an attachment with what's left of the wounded soldier. She comes in all quiet and dutiful and full of religion and the symbolic anti-war lecture of the film finds its humanity. Despite my problems, it gains power in the (spoiled) ending and I liked this quite a bit.
RATING: 8