Platoon

Oliver Stone's Platoon is the most sobering Vietnam War epic ever made. It is an unqualified triumph for its honesty, its artistry, its brutality and its frank portrayal of a nation - our nation - divided by ideology, poverty, racism and drugs. [25 Jan 1987, p.1E]

If Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter are like slaps to the face, Platoon is a punch to the gut.

Platoon is a triumph for Oliver Stone, a film in which a visceral approach to violence, which has always set him apart, is balanced by classical symmetries and a kind of elegiac distance. This is not the Vietnam of op-ed writers, rabble-rousers or esthetic visionaries, not Vietnam-as-metaphor or Vietnam-the-way-it-should-have-been. It is a movie about Vietnam as it was, alive with authenticity, seen through the eyes of a master filmmaker who lost his innocence there.

With craft, crackle, a little bombast and plenty of residual rage, he has created a time-capsule movie that explodes like a frag bomb in the consciousness of America, showing how it was back then, over there.

Stone's eye-blistering images possess an awesome power, which sets the senses reeling and leaves the mind disturbed.

A touch too heavy on the Faust scenario, this is nevertheless a typically powerful effort from Stone especially strong on the nightmarish aspects of the war, as when a simple misundertsanding instantly becomes a massacre...Gripping stuff

There is plenty of good work to be found here, and pic certainly grabs the viewer by the collar in a way not found everyday in contemporary films.

Classic movie and yes everyone should see it. There is not only action, but the focus is on the characters and how they are changed because of the terror of war. Great acting by all of them.

My biggest problem with Platoon is that i just wasn't that interested in the whole conflict between the soldiers on the same side, the film puts a lot of focus on these egotistical personalities and the tension between them, and while i can appreciate what the actors are doing, i found myself more impressed by the performances than actually invested in the characters or their drama, the acting is really good, but the story behind those performances just didn't grab me as much as i wanted it to. And honestly, that's frustrating because i really wanted to enjoy this movie, there are definitely things i liked about it, the performances are probably the strongest part for me, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, and Charlie Sheen all give really convincing performances, and they make those dramatic confrontations feel intense even when i wasn't particularly interested in what the characters were fighting about, the battle sequences are also pretty great, for its time, they're chaotic, brutal, and don't feel overly polished or glamorous. I wouldn't say the plot doesn't work at all, though i can understand what the movie is trying to do with the conflict between Elias and Barnes, and how the war gradually brings out different sides of these people, i just didn't find that particular story very engaging, a lot of the time, i felt like i was watching a bunch of soldiers egos and personal issues getting in the way of everything, and i kept waiting for the movie to give me something that would make me feel more connected to the bigger picture. Maybe that's actually the point, the movie is showing how war can turn people against each other and bring out the worst in them, even when they're technically fighting on the same side, but personally, i came away feeling like i learned more about how awful, selfish, or unstable some of these soldiers could be than i did about the Vietnam War itself, i wanted something that would leave a stronger impression on me beyond the personalities and internal conflict. Overall, i didn't hate Platoon, not even close, i can appreciate the performances, the direction, the battle sequences, and there are definitely some powerful moments here, but i just couldn't connect with the story in the way i wanted to, by the end, i felt more impressed by the filmmaking and the actors than emotionally satisfied by the actual story.

Another brutal and hellish war depiction, I really enjoyed all the characters, honestly Sheen's was probably the worst or least interesting of the bunch. The voice over work and dialogue was so bad, and was completely unnecessary.

"Platoon" delivers its share of brutality and morality during the non-sensical war in Vietnam. However, despite the good performances and sincere direction by Stone, by the end of the film, nothing has remotely left an impact in my mind about it. In a sea of war pictures that all vary in explaining and showing the understanding of such awful violence and yes, sometimes decisions, "Platoon" came across as just another war movie. For movie-goers and war historians, take it for what its worth as I've personally seen more inspiring works which deal with the consequences of war.

The dialogue narration by Sheen's characters comes off as pretentious and immersion breaking annoying. I wish he would shut up and it would be a better movie for it. A lot of the characters seem almost like caricatures. The story is just survival and for some at any costs.