Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning filmmaking, 13 Jan 2007
This amazing film will leave you shell-shocked. Made before Apocalypse Now, and eight or nine years before Platoon and Full Metal Jacket it was the first major film to deal with the Vietnam war.
The film breaks down into three main sections. The opening long section, is all about character development. The first time you see it you may think this section is too long, but with subsequent viewings it becomes more and more important to the films structure.
The second section in Vietnam starts very suddenly and is a complete nightmare. Everybody knows about the Roulette scene but this is only one part that vividly displays the hideous nature of war and the inhumanity of man to his fellow man.
The after effects of this are shown in the third section, which is all the more shocking because for the men involved the war is over, but the psychological damage caused by the war has changed their lives.
This really is an epic film that you need to see more than once. However, unlike a lot of Hollywood films this deals with the realities of war and you may not find repeated viewings easy to take!
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some part of the film might seem like fillers but it gives great intensity, 19 Aug 2007
A good number of viewers believe that "The Deer Hunter" is overlong and a bit overrated, probably due to a handful of scenes, but beside that its an important film that was the first commentary on the topic of Vietnam. It wouldn't have worked nearly as powerfully if the first hour been trimmed down a bit. It wasn't the director's attention because he meant to focus on "character development," base on the lives of three all-American friends, Niko (Christopher Walken), Michael (Robert DeNiro) and Steven (John Savage) through the affects of the war.
We have to sense the careless and frat-boy-like immaturity of these young men. That's why the scenes all revolve around frivolity and seemingly senseless boyish behavior; it creates such a stark contrast to the devastated characters of the three who went to war (and the relatively unaffected personalities of those who stayed behind, like Stanley). Although both De Niro and Walken have made a lot of great films after this movie, I have to say that this is one of their best movies in their career. They both give powerful performances and are the ones who were the best things about this movie. Both actors are at the top of their careers and were wonderful together.
Director-write Michael Cimino doesn't try to turn this into one of the goriest movies ever made. It's quite the opposite. Although there were a few bloody scenes throughout the movie (which I didn't mind), all of those scenes were done in a realistic portrayal of the war (or any of the other bloody scenes, such as the Russian Roulette scene at the end of the movie). Because of this, the movie doesn't become a disturbing war film, yet respectable.
"The Deer Hunter" is important film that wasn't done for nothing because it carries a strong message about life, death and love. It is a movie that should be experienced by everyone at least once, and if you like movies dealing with the Vietnam war several of them, like "Full Metal Jacket", "Platoon", and "Apocalypse Now," should also interest you.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
bleak and brilliant , 30 May 2008
From the opening sounds of the key soundtrack song at the beginning of this 1978 academy award winning film,it is clear that this is going to be a mournful and painful movie and it very much is,a look at how those who fought in vietnam can leave that place but it will never leave you,there are more morals than just that to be honest,im only scratching at the surface.
The film deals with a bunch of characters in a close knit town,the film starts with a wedding and we get character development,many have said that the opening scene is a bit drawn out and it is in my opinion but nonetheless significant as we see a comical side to characters who soon would have little reason to laugh.
We skip to vietnam and hell would be a preferred destination as the americans are captured and forced to play russian roulette and then we have homecomings of sorts and souls so much darker than before.
There is plenty more to this than that,its just hard to dissect this without writing a book,but this is a great epic movie that all involved with can walk away with all the credit in the world.
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