Review of Platoon (1986) by Pat Graham for Chicago Reader — 05 Feb 2007

He makes a good job of it, though the wider aspirations to contemporary relevance seem dubious. Stone seeks large lessons in the experiences of ordinary men in battle, but it isn't clear Vietnam has anything new to offer: war is hell and somebody inevitably gets shafted, but the uniqueness of this conflict lies away from the military arena: in politics, psychology, and history.

For all the purported naturalism, the film seems resolutely schematic, and the attitudes shaping the drama are far from open-ended.