Platoon

Rating

Director

Oliver Stone

Screenplay

Oliver Stone

Length

120 min.

Starring

Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, John C. McGinley, Richard Edson, Kevin Dillon, Reggie Johnson, Keith David, Johnny Depp, David Neidorf, Mark Moses, Christ Pedersen

MPAA Rating

R

Review

It was a trouble time. The United States was embroiled in a war it wasn’t going to win and young men were dying on foreign soil for a cause many now feel was not justified. Platoon explores the turmoil of several recruits, both voluntary and not.

War films are a collaborative effort for the actors. When working as a platoon of men, it’s difficult to strike the right balance between veterans and new recruits without making one actor seem more important than another. Director Oliver Stone achieves that balance with a cast of relative unknowns who have gone on to amazing careers. It’s hard to believe that Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker, John C. McGinley, Kevin Dillon, Keith David and Johnny Depp only had about a dozen films between them when they appeared together, but their young and fresh faces seem at stark contrast with the aged jungle around them.

The story belongs to Pvt. Chris Taylor (Sheen) as it’s his letters to his grandmother that narrate the story. The film opens on this green new soldier stepping off the plane at the base in Vietnam where he’s about to join his new platoon. His arrival is punctuated by the departure of several body bags. This scene isn’t the last of its kind in the film as many men die at the hands of the Viet Cong who stealthily and strategically eviscerate their foes without remorse.

It should thus be no surprise that the Americans resort to such tactics as well. Important plot points develop around the rivalry between two long-term soldiers. Tom Berenger creates the brash, headstrong killing machine Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes while Willem Dafoe intimates a more compassionate and thoughtful Sergeant Elias Grodin. At odds over the inhumane treatment and killing of Vietnamese civilians, their conflict turns even more dangerous when Grodin pledges to make sure Barnes is punished for his hot-headed and callous behavior.

Platoon is a perfect example of how stressful and dangerous events change people. Perhaps it’s not change but a more natural and deeply rooted conceit that causes us to act the way we do. Suffice it to say, the depictions of common men at the end of their ropes lashing out in the way they think most appropriate is perfectly crafted into the film.

Glossy war pics like Saving Private Ryan only help to make films like Platoon stand out more. The film opts for a more realistic and gritty approach than its more picturesque counterparts. While not all gritty war films are significant works of art, Platoon certainly qualifies for that designation. All is thanks to Oliver Stone’s poignant and provocative screenplay which he directs amazingly well.

Though All Quiet on the Western Front is still the best war film about soldiers the Academy has ever recognized, Platoon serves as a nice Vietnam War companion to the World War II behemoth that won Best Picture more than 50 years before it.

Review Written

December 26, 2006