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Rated: R
Starring: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, et al.
Director: Oliver Stone Review
Platoon put writer-turned-director Oliver Stone on the Hollywood map; it
is still his most acclaimed and effective film, probably because it is
based on Stone's firsthand experience as an American soldier in Vietnam.
Chris (Charlie Sheen) is an infantryman whose loyalty is tested by two
superior officers: Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), a former hippie humanist
who really cares about his men (this was a few years before he played
Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ), and Sergeant
Barnes (Tom Berenger), a moody, macho soldier who may have gone over to
the dark side. The personalities of the two sergeants correspond to their
combat drugs of choice--pot for Elias and booze for Barnes. Stone has
become known for his sledgehammer visual style, but in this film it seems
perfectly appropriate. His violent and disorienting images have a
terrifying immediacy, a you-are-there quality that gives you a sense of
how things may have felt to an infantryman in the jungles of Vietnam.
Platoon won Oscars for best picture and director. --Jim Emerson
------------ Oliver Stone's "Platoon" is the best movie
ever made about the war in Vietnam. Yes, it even surpasses "Apocalypse
Now," which though a masterpiece, was really a Joseph Conrad trip into
madness. "Platoon" has characters that feel real, that we care about. The
violence is not meant to be simple morbid entertainment in an action film,
but a clear documentation of combat (though Stone admits combat is more
boring than it seems) and the realities of war. Stone fought in Vietnam,
and that helps add realism, an insider's view on what was happening.
"Platoon" captures an era in America when young men were sent to a war
without a real point. The film certainly deserved the Best Picture and
Director Oscars it was given. The photography by Robert Richardson is rich
and there are vistas and shots that stay in the memory. The music can be
haunting and the editing makes the film feel alive, and yet meditative at
some points. Stone shows here the realities of war, how war affects both
sides, how war is a horrible conflict of man tearing at man. It is a
powerful masterpiece that will stand the test of time for years to come.
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