Rating: 
Summary: This film still haunts me....after all these years!
Review: I saw the film in a theatre when it first came out in the early 80's. There were only 8 people in the audience and 6 of them left before the ending. My date and I couldn't have left if we wanted to (which we didn't) because the story and its characters nailed us to our chairs. This is not a film for the faint-hearted, nor is it a "feel-good" story. However, it tells a most compelling story with a terrific cast. Also, if there is a hotter cinematic moment that when the two lovers are in Gibson's car coming down a hill from an embassy party, I haven't seen it. Whew...what heat!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: A terrific film-- The cinematography is brilliant; the actors and story, mesmerizing. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Not wrong to want to change your country..
Review: Director Peter Weir casts Mel Gibson as a young journalist posted to Jakarta, Indonesia. This is set in the 65 Soekarno's reign. The young journalist, Guy is soon soaking in the tumultous years of SE Asia, especially Indonesia. Linda Hunt plays his photog, accomplice and friend, as a Man. A brilliant performance that was rewarded with an Oscar. The direction, though bitty, is appropriate for the turbulence and looming downfall of the Soekarno regime. The pacing is disturbing, especially with the "romantic" scenes. As is the casting of Sigourney Weaver who weaves an on/off British accent. The relationship between Gibson and Weaver is hot. But it is between Gibson and Linda Hunt's characters that one learns much about the situation there. Watch out for the bits of jewels - the Wayang Kulit (shadow puppetry) scenes with Linda Hunt and Mel Gibson. The beggars, the sick and hungry and the slum areas as set up in the film, are still here today! The Hotel Indonesia scenes are great, right down to the logo of the hotel. The real gems of course are the shots that Peter Weir show through the photographs of Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt). Although most of the scenes are set and filmed in Philippines, they are no less, real. Very real. A few groans, though, for some of the glaring Filipino accents. Another real gem is the the scene where Mel finally leaves Jakarta - the Royal Netherlands Aircraft on the tarmac! Watch it for what it is, though the film does not attempt to go deeper into the politics, it gives us enough. Enough to go read up more.... A great film and I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Dangerously - A Weir classic. Illuminati.
Review: Every word and picture keenly selected. Quickly engrossing especially due to Hunt. High quality music (Jarre) is one of the best matches in filmdom. Deeply thought-provoking; and fun too, when appropriate. Must be a compassionate individual to appreciate [developing country] scenes. Weir's method for narration (Hunt) is exquisite in bringing viewers into the story, but less so, the 1965 Indonesion experience and culture. Thanks for reading.
Rating:
Summary: Bravo Hunt!
Review: I considered this Mel Gibson at his best, although Linda Hunt stole the show. Hunt was a believable character; despite what some reviewers said about her "gender bending" her character was perfect and convincing. Other high points, music score of Maurice Jarre, Vangelis (L'Enfant played in the car chase) and Richard Strauss: Beim Schlafengehen from Last Four Songs, sung by Kiri Te Kanawa.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great
Review: I have watched a lot of dramatic movies, but this one just didn't grip me. One of the things that I found awkward was the 1980's score -it was just too imposing. Also, the visual quality was not that great on the DVD. However, it's still a fair insight into what was going on in Indonesia in 1965.
Rating: 
Summary: Edited for TV
Review: I loved the original theatrical release of The Year of Living Dangerously. I watched it over and over. It was a beautiful, sensuous film. This is not the original. This DVD was the work of some hack who left the best parts of the movie on the cutting room floor. Gone is much of the gamelan music, many scenic shots of Indonesian countryside, and one of the hotest make-out scenes in cinematic history. Just as Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver are about to go at it the scene abruptly ends. Even the sequence of the original is changed. The over all effect is a coursening of what had been a classic. This was such a dark and murky print I still wonder if I somehow got a bootleg copy surreptitiously videotaped by some artless thug. I feel angry and cheated.
I recommend waiting until the original version is released. DON'T BUY THIS TRASH!
Rating:
Summary: No Quality Control
Review: I picked up this film used after seeing this formerly advertised here new for $17.98. I'm a Peter Weir fan mostly of his Oz period, which I still consider this film. I don't remember from seeing this at a theatre years ago if this DVD has been edited, but the print except for a few blemishes looks good. However-- ignoring the package information-- this film has NOT been transferred with a stereo soundtrack. At least my copy is MONO. PS- where's a widescreen release of "Fearless"???
Rating:
Summary: A rare jewel
Review: I reserve five stars for movies that create or recreate a world I want to live in or touch in some way. This is not to say that one film is BETTER THAN "Citizen Kane" or NOT AS GOOD AS "Casablanca." All good movies are their own reward for having watched them. A movie that can truly move you is a rare thing. It is the accumulation of these rare moments that enrich our lives. "The Year of Living Dangerously" is a rare thing. It is a film that lets you see an alien culture in all its poverty and violence and political turmoil and renders it -- at its heart -- as a frightening and beautiful thing. I know I will perhaps never go to Djakarta, Indonesia. I certainly cannot know the fear the people of Java lived with under the Sukarno regime. I do not know what fears they live with now. But I am haunted by the voice of Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt in her Oscar winning role) who is himself haunted by the misery and hardships of his adopted people. Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) is the journalist trying to cover a budding revolution the western world watches but doesn't wish to understand. Hamilton is, as I would be, lost in this alien culture, visibly panicked as he struggles to keep up with his callous fellow journalists. Sigourney Weaver is the sophisticated British attache for whom he finds himself falling in love. Ultimately, Hamilton must decide between his loyalty to his job and his loyalty to himself. Peter Weir's empathic direction and Maurice Jarre's lush score put you in Indonesia in the 1960s and hold you there. Stay. You will go back again and again.
Rating:
Summary: A rare jewel
Review: I reserve five stars for movies that create or recreate a world I want to live in or touch in some way. This is not to say that one film is BETTER THAN "Citizen Kane" or NOT AS GOOD AS "Casablanca." All good movies are their own reward for having watched them. A movie that can truly move you is a rare thing. It is the accumulation of these rare moments that enrich our lives. "The Year of Living Dangerously" is a rare thing. It is a film that lets you see an alien culture in all its poverty and violence and political turmoil and renders it -- at its heart -- as a frightening and beautiful thing. I know I will perhaps never go to Djakarta, Indonesia. I certainly cannot know the fear the people of Java lived with under the Sukarno regime. I do not know what fears they live with now. But I am haunted by the voice of Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt in her Oscar winning role) who is himself haunted by the misery and hardships of his adopted people. Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) is the journalist trying to cover a budding revolution the western world watches but doesn't wish to understand. Hamilton is, as I would be, lost in this alien culture, visibly panicked as he struggles to keep up with his callous fellow journalists. Sigourney Weaver is the sophisticated British attache for whom he finds himself falling in love. Ultimately, Hamilton must decide between his loyalty to his job and his loyalty to himself. Peter Weir's empathic direction and Maurice Jarre's lush score put you in Indonesia in the 1960s and hold you there. Stay. You will go back again and again.
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