Review of Platoon (1986) by Jack L — 02 Sep 2010

(CONTAINS SPOILERS).........Platoon tells the story of a privileged young man named Taylor (Charlie Sheen)who has enough of his cushy lifestyle so decides to join the army and is sent to Vietnam in 1967.

When he first arrives he is treated with indifference by the veterans just as the other new recruits. It soon becomes clear that the Platoon isn't led by the Lieutenant as it should be but by Sergeant Elias (Willem Defoe), there also seems to be a split in the platoon: on one side the sympathetic Sergeant Elias's supporters(mainly poor Blacks and stoners) on the other side the cruel Staff Sergeant Barnes(Tom Berenger) supporters (mainly whites and hyper violent psychos).

The infighting is aggravated by an incident in a Vietnamese village and continues until one day during a Viet-Cong ambush Sergeant Barnes orders his men to pull back and goes to find Elias who had gone off alone, Taylor follows him and sees Barnes shoot his rival several times unaware he was being observed.

As they fly away they see Elias is still alive and struggling to reach them while being pursued by a large number of Viet-Cong, they cannot land and Elias dies.

Taylor swears to revenge him.

The platoon is later sent back to the ambush area in order to build and maintain heavy defensive positions against potential attack. That night a large attack occurs,(based on an attack Stone survived) and the defensive lines are broken. During the chaos, Barnes and Taylor come face-to-face. Just before Barnes can swing his shovel to kill Taylor, both men are knocked unconscious by the start of an American napalm attack. A wounded Taylor regains consciousness the next morning and finds Barnes, who is also wounded. Taylor shoots Barnes three times in the chest, killing him. He then collapses and awaits medical attention. As he is loaded onto the helicopter, as he has been wounded twice, they can go home. The helicopter flies away and Taylor weeps as he stares down at the destruction.

This film is probably my favourite Vietnam film and one of my favourite war films.

The experiences, situations all seem so real. Oliver Stone put his first hand knowledge of the war to excellent use.

The way some of the soldiers are just resigned to their fate while others can't wait to kill some Viet-Cong is very well seen and I really got the feeling that each character had a very different experience of the war.

The acting was terrific especially by Defoe and Berenger who really brought their characters to life. Charlie Sheen gives an excellent performance as well.

The every day chores and the confusion of battle were extremely well developed as were the tactics used on both sides.

Oliver Stones direction was incredible, he really managed to portray the adrenalin rush of battle very well on screen.

The plot was rather hard to follow in my opinion as is probably harder if you are not familiar with military jargon.

Even after watching it twice I still didn't fully comprehend.

The violence is extreme, Stone doesn't hesitate to show a man getting both his arms blown off for example.

The soundtrack was good but nothing very striking except for the scene in the sort of club frequented by Elias and his friends.

Overall it' a great film with some flaws which are made up for by the sheer truthfulness of Stone's screenplay and direction. Would recommend to anyone with an interest in the Vietnam war or in Oliver Stone. I would also recommend the other two of his Vietnam trilogy: "Born on the fourth of July" and "Heaven and Earth".

Cinematography 10/10.

Screenplay 10/10.

Plot 7/10.

Soundtrack 6/10.

Acting 9/10.