Good Morning Vietnam

In the wake of the death of the legendary Robin Williams, a lot of his movies made their way onto Netflix. Now I consider myself a pretty big Robin Williams fan and was incredibly saddened by the news of his passing last year.

There were a lot of movies that came onto Netflix that I wanted to see, but the one I think I wanted to see the most that I hadn't seen yet was Good Morning Vietnam. This was a movie that I had heard great things about and yet had not yet seen. Similarly to The Karate Kid, it was leaving Netflix and I realized I needed to watch it before it was gone.

Good Morning Vietnam follows the story of Adrian Cronauer (played by Williams). Cronauer is assigned to an army base in Vietnam where he is tasked to be a radio show host and read the news provided by the United States Army to the soldiers fighting in the Vietnam war.

Like most Robin Williams movies, the establishment just can't totally handle Robin Williams and his first radio show is filled with incredible energy. Cronauer is funny, he's energetic, and he plays catchy music of the time like The Beach Boys, etc. This of course does not bode well with the higher command, a Lieutenant by the name of Hauk (played by Bruno Kirby) and a Staff Sergeant by the name of Dickerson (played by J.T. Walsh). Their styles definitely crash and create conflict throughout the movie.

But furthermore, Cronauer finds fancy in a young Vietnamese woman named Trinh (played by Chintara Sukapatana). So much that he bribes the soldier in charge of a class she's in that teaches English and begins to court her, all while becoming friends with her brother (played by Tung Tahn Tran).

Other characters worth mentioning are Cronauer's body guard played by Forest Whitaker and his partner in the radio played by Robert Wuhl.

The cast of this movie is solid as it can be and they really pull the story together. It really shows the disjointedness of the army during Vietnam and the consequences of demanding respect rather than earning it, and that is shown in Lieutenant Hauk's character. I can't say how accurate the movie portrays the conduct between officers and their subordinates but based on what I know of the Vietnam war, its a piece of the times. For the sake of the story, every relationship in this movie works. From everyone treating Hauk with no respect mainly because he doesn't deserve it, to the relationship between Williams and Whitaker's characters.

And not just that, its the relationship between Cronauer and the Vietnamese people he comes in contact with. He really becomes a part of the community and becomes empathetic to their situation. And that's where the movie has some heart, it really delves into giving humanity to the Vietnamese as they were just as affected by the conflict as we were, if not more.

But by far the greatest part of the movie is when Williams performs on the radio.

Whenever Williams is on the radio, of course, all his dialogue is improvised. If you've watched anything with Williams, you know that the man has an energy to him that is incomparable.

I couldn't help but get emotional just because its tragic that such an energetic soul, and someone who was able to make people laugh so easily was taken from this world way too soon.

Good Morning Vietnam is just a phenomenal example of a film you can point to and say, that's what a Robin Williams performance was. Granted, there are a lot of films where that is the case, but something about this one just hit a chord with me. Yeah its the story of Williams bringing a human factor to an institution that is distinctively lacking humanity, but if that was going to be used anywhere, Vietnam is a phenomenal backdrop to that storyline.

Honestly, there's no too many bad things I can say about this film. The film does have a more serious side to it. While a lot of the movie is a comedy, it has a very serious edge to it. This can mainly be shown in one of the most iconic parts of the film, where Cronauer is playing Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World"

The imagery is incredibly powerful and incredibly potent. Contrasted with the film's comedic side, it is incredibly rich. There are a couple moments where I thought the humor maybe was misplaced, mainly near the end, especially when the message of how the Vietnam war is affecting the Vietnamese people, they throw in a joke that I don't think needed to be there.

But Williams shows once again that he had this brilliant ability to both make us laugh and act, and act very well. It seems like such a different part when you look at it on face value, I mean Robin Williams in the army? It sounds like something from Stripes. But the film definitely surprises you and its a phenomenal performance, so much that you say, there's no one else who could have played this.

Good Morning Vietnam is an example of a movie that holds up years after the conflict is no longer a hot button issue. I'm disappointed that I hadn't seen this movie prior to this past week. If you haven't seen it, put it at the top of your Netflix list (and watch it quick, its leaving Netflix on April 1st) or find it as soon as you can because I whole heartedly recommend Good Morning Vietnam.

But what do you think? What did you think of Good Morning Vietnam? What is your favorite part that Robin Williams played? Leave a comment and discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and shoot me a tweet of your thoughts, I would love to hear it. You can also get updates on movie news and reviews if you follow me. I'm on spring break right now so the reviews are going to keep on coming pretty steady for the next week.