Platton movie review

Rating: 9/10 (26 December 2010)

It's both invoking in the plot, but more engaging with its uniquely believable characters. Oliver stone directs a master piece of both modern, and psychological warfare, embarking on a quest where its focused soldiers must an enemy far greater than the gooks, themselves. It's very strange that when we fight a known enemy any actions, no matter how cruel or vile, they seem normal. However when we fight amongst ourselves, all goes to hell. In the time of the film, our apparent hero Chris Taylor (Sheen) narrates both his feelings, his clarifications, as well as his doubts on the subject of the war. As Taylor walks us through his own experience of the Hell that once made go into an infinite panic, we all get brief but accurate glimpses of the true Vietnam. If many people believed that being a soldier back then was a proud honor, no matter what unit, or what position they were placed in, then they were dead wrong. It was nothing more and nothing less. The grunts were able to take it , on the account that they were nothing before they had the military. It's quite graphic and yet enjoyable to watch as Oliver Stone digs deep into what many soldiers were like back then. Vietnam was a very difficult time, not just for this country, but for the very men fighting in it. In their gaze of that very Hell they resorted to drug use out of a necessity to escape that endless cold reality of death, and what struck me as intrigued was just how believable the characters were. They all felt screwed over in whatever way the war ,or the military had done to them. Some used their own moral compass to make actions any sane human would easily hesitate to make. The very performance by Tom Beranger as Sgt. Barnes was incredible, as he represented a soldier who has had his good time in Vietnam well enough to see how and what he can do. He gazes on the very pot heads he commands, saying he is reality, only to have viewers assume that he feels no repent for his less than prominent actions. Sgt. Allias (Daffoe) is portrayed as the more rational soldier, whom like Barnes understands the nature of how much insanity defines the very war they are fighting, while still maintaining his own dignity as a human being and not a murderer with authority. Its very clear that the established rivalry among these two Sergeants divides soldiers into two different sides, making the Gooks the least of their problems. Basically the film portrays Vietnam as general Vietnam. Early 5 a.m. wake up, daily digging and humping, and all night watches through dark infested Jungles. It's all very clear at just how little the gooks were as the enemy, for the true battle was between themselves. As Taylor's character goes through more improved developments, responding more commonly to the very site of war, everything becomes more clear to him. That very knowledge has given him the assurance that he can use what he learned in his experience as guidance, knowing he will never be the same again. Taylor came to Vietnam as a college dropout with very little Ambition, and he came out with more than an experience, but a forever lasting mark of the true nature of war. "Platoon" is a riveting war drama, combining a brilliant form of direction as Oliver Stone maintains focus on the elements of the Vietnam war, out of respect for those who died, and delivers characters that are very common and yet very unique by the personalities that define them. "Platoon" gives viewers a deeper look into what goes on inside the platoon, rather than what is outside it.