Platoon Reviews

One of the most emotionally powerful and realistic depictions of the Vietnam war. This is anti-war cinema at its finest alongside Terrence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line.' Oliver Stone successfully includes several instances of war crimes and crimes against humanity the US military committed towards innocent Vietnamese civilians that regularly happens and still happening today in the Iraq war.

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. Well, after all these years, I was glad to see that the damned thing was still quite powerful and, in my opinion, it remains the best movie about the Vietnam war, no less than that. In fact, it might even be my favorite war movie. I mean, there are some other pretty good movies about the suject, like ‘Full Metal Jacket’ for example, but this flick is just way better than the rest though. The making-off was already the stuff of legend as the actors had to spend 2 weeks in a boot camp to get into the right ‘mood’ and Stone made sure that all the details were accurate. Stone, who was himself a Vietnam veteran, struggled for more than a decade to manage to make this movie (he even tried to cast Jim Morrison at some point) but it was eventually a huge financial and critical success. Back then, it even won the Best Picture Academy award and Oliver Stone’s career was finally launched for good and, for a while, he was one of the most interesting American directors at work. Indeed, he kept making some really interesting pictures but they unfortunately never reached the level of this masterpiece. Coming back on our main feature, at the end of the day, it is a really fascinating and sometimes heartbreaking war tale with some fully fledged characters. Hell, there was even Johnny Depp in it… What else do you need? The rest of the cast was also pretty neat (Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon). Anyway, to conclude, it is a classic, one of the best movies on this genre and it is definitely worth a look.

"Are you smoking this shit so's to escape from reality? Me, I don't need this shit. I am reality. There's the way it ought to be, and there's the way it is. Elias was full of shit. Elias was a crusader. Now, I got no fight... with any man who does what he's told. But when he don't, the machine breaks down. And when the machine breaks down, we break down. And I ain't gonna allow that... in any of you. Not one."

I find it hard sometimes to get into war films, this was one of them. I'm not saying it was bad, I just didn't like it quite as much as some other people did. Maybe if I watch it again sometime I might like it a little more, but for now it leaves me satisfied, nothing more.

The movie is based around a man, Chris Taylor, who has volunteered to fight for his country in the Vietnam War. Only soon after he arrives he struggles to survive, and realises that he is insignificant to the other soldiers as he has not been at the war for as long as they have. A rivalry is soon formed between his two commanding officers, so he soon realises that he is not only battling with his enemy, but with the conflict between the men in his platoon. There were two main reasons I saw this.. one being that it comes highly recommended by some of my friends.. the other that I wanted to see Johnny Depp. If someone only saw this because of Johnny (And I was close to that) then you might be a little disappointed. His role is very small, I found myself looking out for him throughout the whole movie.. waiting to see him, waiting for him to speak. Unfortunately he hardly says anything, but it's still interesting to see a successful actor like him in one of his older movies.

Charlie Sheen as Chris Taylor was someone I am unfamiliar with, so I didn't know what to expect from him. I thought he did a pretty decent job pulling off the main role in this flick. Willem Dafoe I really liked in this.. his character was one of the more like able ones, and he gave a strong performance. One scene I will definitely not forget from him was the shot that is used as the cover.. so convincing and horrifying, that was a very memorable moment for the film. Tom Berenger was great for his role.. creating a very odious character. Johnny Depp was brilliant for his small part, an intense performance from him.

My rating reflects my like of war films.. though this did have a great cast and amazing performances.. war movies like this just aren't my thing. Like I said though, a second viewing might make me change what I think of this film.