This film is an average grade B war movie with a good moralistic message but without much depth.

Rating: 6/10 (3 February 2001)

Platoon did not impress me as a particularly good movie but neither was it a bad movie. On this basis I would rate it 5 out of 10.
While it probably depicted the gross nastiness of that awful war pretty accurately in a technical sense, Platoon never transcends itself into a sense of reality. I was always aware I was watching a movie; it never got beyond the screen to become an experience I got drawn in to.
The same goes for the production itself. While it had special effects galore, to me the action was just a lot of those expensive but not convincing effects. Again, the would-be horrific scenes never transcended the screen and gripped me. I was always quite aware that I was watching a movie production.
On the plus side the character development of several of key players was very interesting and probably the one high point of this movie. The interplay, the breaking under ultimate stress, etc, were all situations well portrayed. (For this reason I raised my vote from 5 to 6 out of 10.)
As for the acting, I did not think there was anything outstanding about anyone's performance; everyone was OK.
As for the theme, to me the whole movie was like a sick orgy. And while this may have been what it is supposed to have portrayed, once again, it never convinced me it was not just a bunch of actors, putting on a very well staged sick orgy in front of a camera. This all impressed me but it did not move me.
This film is an average grade B war movie with a good moralistic message but without much depth. It should appeal to people who like to watch bloody looking action-packed movies - and perhaps analyze the character portrayals, without risking getting too upset.