It is inevitable that war movies will always gain some sort of recognition, whether it is garnering awards at the Academy Awards for Special Effects, Sound Editing or Sound or if it is being acclaimed or heavily criticized by film critics for the aspect of realism it contains. Then there are some of the war films that both gain many Academy Awards and is praised by film critics and viewers alike. One of these films is Platoon.

Platoon, the winner of Best Picture in 1986, is Oliver Stone's attempt to portray the horrors of the Vietnam War. Stone's alter-ego in this film, Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), is a young man from a wealthy family, but decides to drop out of college and go to the war to get away from the pressure from his parents. When one of the soldiers in Vietnam hears about Chris' decision to join the war, he tells him that he's crazy.

Taylor is already having a hard time adjusting to the war, and is placed in a divided platoon, which is divided between Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), who is a psychotic war veteran and has developed into a brutal killing machine, and Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), a tough but sympathetic soldier, whose concern is for the men.

It is also evident that there are soldiers who stick with Barnes and others that stick with Elias. One of the soldiers sticking with Barnes, Bunny (Kevin Dillon, Matt Dillon's brother), is developing into a killing machine, who escape the horrors of Vietnam through alcohol. Unlike most of the soldiers in Vietnam, actually enjoys the violence. On the other side, there are soldiers like Big Harold (Forest Whitaker) who side with Elias, escaping the horrors of war through drugs.

The division within the platoon causes problems and there is obvious tension between Barnes and Elias, which breaks loose during a scene in a village where Berenger unnecessarily murders a village elder's wife.

Taylor, who is divided between the two sergeants, is left confused throughout the film and is unsure who he should side with, but like Elias, escapes the horrors of war through drugs.

It is clearly evident that Stone attempted to fully portray what he experienced in war through the character of Chris Taylor, and like Taylor, he became a drug addict, and used drugs to escape the horrors of the war. Stone succeeds in this aspect, and succeeds in portraying the whole war situation as realistically as possible. The use of violence and unnecessary violence seemed so vividly real (I wouldn't know because I've never been in a war) that it is almost frightening. This is helped a lot by the cinematography and film editing as well. The camera is used to great effect, particularly during the fight scenes, as is the editing.

As real as the film may be, the plot is, to an extent, somewhat weak. This is due to Stone's attempt to portray the "good" side (Elias) and the "bad" side (Barnes) in the divided platoon. Sure, it is obvious that they both show the good and the bad, but I feel that this concept is extremely clichéd and is a theme that is common in too many films.

Despite this, Berenger's and Dafoe's portrayal of this is superb. Berenger does well in making us hate him as a person, while we grow to love the kind nature that Dafoe shows throughout the film. Sheen also does a good job in being the confused Taylor, and Sheen's change in character is subtle and Sheen did a good job in making the change as small as possible. The supporting cast of Whitaker, Johnny Depp (small part as soldier) and Dillon are good and do well to bring out the main characters of the film.

The film would not be as good if it were not for Stone's superb direction. Stone's portrayal of Vietnam is so real and the war scenes in the film are so frighteningly real that it is almost too scary to be true. He takes full advantage of the film's setting and the camera and he succeeds in being able to utilize these tools as efficiently as possible.

After watching the film, it is hard for me to say that Stone did anything wrong, and I have nothing but praise for him for portraying such a grimly real portrayal of Vietnam, and out of the Vietnam War film out there, this is by far the best one (this is much better than its highly praised predecessor, Apocalypse Now), and would even go as far to say that this is the best film of the 1980s!

Thanks for reading the review.

Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age