Platoon, You Are A Dream Come True

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2005)

Anything nice you say about this film is like a whisper on a scream. It's a classic, it won awards, it has an unbelievably great cast. So it's not like I really need to say anything more. But I will.
I wasn't sure Charlie Sheen had the depth to carry on a role of this magnitude, but he did. His character was exactly like Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones. Except that they have nothing in common. Well, that one thing. They both hate snakes. Tom Berenger was ruthless. Willem Dafoe did the best damn job I've ever seen him do in a film and I found him very likable, which is odd considering how much I intensely hate Dafoe on a personal level (even more than Saddam Hussein hates Kurds). Dafoe shines like a diamond in a field of A-holes.
Kevin Dillon was so despicable that I found myself actually feeling the pain of the Vietnamese people. In my soul. I wanted to channel the spirit of Ho Chi Minh to avenge the deaths of his people. I cried twice. It was very sad to see families torn apart and people treated like dogs or maybe even something worse. Johnny Depp will go down in history for his role in this film - it is by far his best role and he should have received a supporting actor Oscar.
But more than Depp, Dafoe or even Sheen - the scene-stealer was John McGinley. As Super-Lifer O'Neill he filmed the movie with anguish, anger, humor, sadness, hopeless bleak despair, and sheer acting constipation. His Weird Al Yankovic-looking face made me smile while at the same time I was emotionally destroyed on the inside. McGinley, this Bud's for you. This film is awesome - very recommended!