Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

leplatypus This sequel breaks down right from the start because it's clear that all our friends from the 1st movie live now their own life separately, so the movie is actually a collage of 4 separated short movies stuck together : As all vignettes movie, the quality of the segments is uneven : 1) the Nam experience of the Toad : except some nice shots of copters flying, this was highly boring ; 2) the SF hippies : except the really quick cameo of Harrison and a young Scott Glen, nothing really interesting here ; 3) the dragster contest : much better but in a very limited plot : the talent of the cast, Le Mat and Nordic Anna Bkorn, makes the difference 4) the family life : it's the more finished part that reunites as well good acting and an engaging story : i don't know a lot of movies that deals with student protest in the 60s and we have a good summary here : this segments has also the best song moment of the movie with the famous Babylove (unlike the 3 others in which the score is far from Lucas hits..)… The director has indeed an experimental attitude with his camera but at the end, the movie is a nearly expandable sequel. If i don't give it the average, it's due to the silly captions at the end… What's the point to tell more about their lives with lines while you have got it with pictures ???

Justcalljoe Wow! There have been bad movies and there is this movie and it is just terrible! The attempts to be cute with different photography techniques fall flat. The story is extremely lame. The first movie was great and well done but this one really sucks. It should only be recommended to someone you wish to punish! The primary actors have always been favorites but they really fall flat with this extremely weak script. Ron Howard appears very uncomfortable with his role and is never convincing. But, with a script this bad one can only do so much. The Vietnam sequences are exceptionally strained as well as the remainder of the movie. Watch anything else and you'll likely do better. Best of luck!

cultfilmfreaksdotcom Since it's reported at the end of the original that Paul LeMat's cool cat John Milner – the hot rod James Dean type with the fastest car in town – was killed by a drunk driver in 1964, the sequel's starting point has all the main characters except Richard Dreyfuss (now a writer in Canada) meeting at a drag race course to cheer on Milner at the tail end of that fateful year.Thus we follow the surviving characters in other New Year Eve's throughout the sixties: Terry Toad Philips in Vietnam, 1965; Debbie in San Francisco, 1966; and Steve and Laurie Henderson in 1967.Let's start with the least interesting characters of the original – Steve and Laurie, played by Ron Howard and Cindy Williams, who were both, at that point, known for their roles on HAPPY DAYS and the successful spin off LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, are still a bickering couple with kids and a hellish relationship going nowhere but down, down, down.The unhappily married duo have only wedding rings in common. Laurie wants to work but Steve, an insurance salesman, forces her to stay at home with their bratty kids. This was before Women's Rights and Laurie wants her independence.Speaking of independence, her little brother is a college hippie radical. The campus is part of a violent protest and he calls Laurie to bring his driver's license, without which he can't leave the campus and might be shipped off to war.It's quickly obvious the entire purpose of this segment is the predictable character arc of both Laurie and Steve (who eventually has to rescue her): the cops are bad and the students are good. The only thing truly worthwhile here is the music – the rest is an overly preachy agenda, proving that hippies aren't very interesting characters: they all look the same, have similar motivations, and don't stand apart from each other.Actually, one hippie does stand apart...Candy Clark's 1966 "Winter of Love" segment is bit more entertaining. Her jerk musician boyfriend is cheating and the ever-smiling bleach-blonde Debbie accidentally winds up hanging out with a rock band: touring a cowboy bar and other venues throughout a comically hectic day and night.Aesthetically, the use of multi-screen (popular in 1960's films like MEDIUM COOL and THE THOMAS CROWNE AFFAIR) attempts to dress up a non-story.The best story has Terry "The Toad" Philips in Vietnam. The visual gimmick is seeing everything through what looks to be a grainy 16 millimeter film stock (liken to news reels), with only a box filling the inside of the screen with black surrounding it.Toad and the former lead Pharaoh Little Jo, played by Bo Hopkins, hang around the muddy barracks or fly around in Hueys, dodging death at every turn (the film opens with helicopters soaring to the song HEAT WAVE). But Toad just wants to go home through being injured and he just can't catch a break, literally.The copters look cool and are reminiscent of APOCALYPSE NOW, the blockbuster that came out the same year, 1979. Perhaps George Lucas, who executive produced this sequel written and directed by Bill L. Norton (director of GARGOYLES), wanted a piece of what he missed out from the Francis Ford Coppola Vietnam War venture, which he was originally connected with.The use of Motown hits (circa 1965) works well during the Vietnam story, jovially contrasting with the bloody battles while the cinematography captures the deep dark green colors of 'Nam. The theme song of John Wayne's THE GREEN BERETS also serves as a caustic anthem for the anti-war proceedings.Most of the storyline is more befitting M*A*S*H than APOCALYPSE NOW: it's all about Toad first trying to find a shortcut home and then teaming with a Gung Ho Lieutenant (James Houghton), who eventually realizes war is a living/breathing hell: something Toad knew all along.Last but not least is the John Milner drag racing story, taking place on and off the crowded and colorful California race grounds. Milner is a good driver but can't get a sponsor, and has to win a few quick jaunts in order for corporate-backed teams to take interest.Here's where the best (and really, the only) love story resides. Gorgeous blond model Ana Bjorn plays a naive foreign exchange student named Eva from Sweden… no, Iceland… that hangs around Milner like a lost puppy.The drag strip races aren't very exciting since the sleek speedsters for a total of five seconds before crossing the finish line, lacking the freewheeling spontaneity of the hot rods in the original. Plus, Milner doesn't have his entire reputation to lose this time. His character, although very likable, is somewhat pointless throughout, especially since we know his hours are numbered.But this is still the second best story, ending with JM's famous yellow Deuce Coupe cruising down the midnight highway towards a pair of oncoming headlights – his death immanent.In many ways this is an unnecessary sequel but it's nice to see the characters together again, even though they're mostly apart. The soundtrack (highlighted by Donovan's "Season of the Witch" followed by Cream, The Grateful Dead, a live appearance by Country Joe and the Fish and concluding with Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone") stands out more than the actual film, and the acting makes it a more than worthy viewing.So while this visual experience is basically an "eight-foot ballerina," there are times she can actually dance.

PretoriaDZ Further adventures of the characters from American Graffiti. A lot of people reacted badly to the fact that the first movie was linear, happening in chronological order over one night, while the sequel is spread over 4 years and jumps around from one year to the next, etc. Add the split screen (which is an homage to 60's visual styles) and people got confused and tired of trying to keep track of which story and what period of time was being portrayed. That said, there are some really great scenes in this movie. In particular, I loved the scenes where Laurie (Cindy Williams) goes to the campus protest, gets caught up in it when she wasn't any part of it and has to run for her life (had this happen to me once). Then when her husband Steve (Ron Howard) steals a police van to rescue her, it was a delightful turn of the tables.