User reviews

This is NOT a remake of the 1970 movie "Johnny Got His Gun" directed by Dalton Trumbo. It is a filmed performance of the Off-Broadway stage monologue adapted from the 1939 novel and shot in 2007 starring Ben McKenzie completely alone on-stage, like in the book. Although it had a limited release in art houses in 2008, it was never intended by the filmmaker to be a remake of the original movie. As the poster says, it is a "live on stage, on film" version of the 1982 Off-Broadway play, shot in a similar style as Lars von Trier's DOGVILLE. Basically, it's a film of a one-person stage play, with a riveting performance by a young Ben Mc Kenzie. Also, the story is told from the wounded soldier's POV, trapped inside his own head (consciousness), not outside looking at his lifeless body lying on a bed like the 1970 movie.

This movie is awesome because it's basically the book put onto the screen. It's pretty much stripped of all the unnecessary traditional Hollywood stuff that can tend to be added to book adaptations. You really feel like you're in Joe's head. This was partly due to the lighting and the sparse black background, which was probably chosen because the director usually does theater and I found that this definitely added to the movie as a whole. This was also due largely to Ben's amazing acting, including the little things he would do such as looking up when he was angry or changing the intonation of his voice slightly and softening his expression depending on who he was "talking" to. If you're wondering how to be able to watch it, go to the website and sign up for the mailing list and they can tell you about the DVD. ^_^ watch it =)