Classic war film reborn

Oliver Stone has certainly earned his title as moviemaking's grand provocateur of the past 20 years. Between "Platoon," "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers," Stone has consistently stirred up cinematic shitstorms. Standing toe-to-toe with these politically-charged works is "Born on the Fourth of July," which was recently given "Special Edition" treatment via DVD re-release.\n"July" tells the harrowing/inspiring true story of Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise, in an arguably career-best performance), a soldier paralyzed in the Vietnam War, who later becomes an anti-war and pro-human activist after feeling betrayed by the American populace. The film has more heart than most of Stone's work, and while he certainly had an agenda in making the movie (as per usual) it wasn't as obvious. Much of this is attributable to Cruise's vivid portrayal, Kovic and Stone's solid script, Robert Richardson's sterling cinematography marked by hues of red, white and blue and John Williams' emotionally evocative score.\nSadly, the DVD doesn't stack up with the film. Special features are limited to a feature-length commentary by Stone, which is interesting and informative in spite of Stone's lethargic speaking voice, and an inane NBC News special chronicling the movies' back story. Despite a lack of special features, "Born on the Fourth of July" is more than worth a look, especially as its central precepts are as relevant now, if not more so, than ever.