The Saving Private Ryan of the Vietnam War.

Rating: 10/10 (30 January 2001)

Similar in many ways to another quality war film, Casualties of War, Platoon is a story that takes place during the Vietnam War and is about a platoon torn basically between good and evil. Oliver Stone relies heavily on personal experience in the war in his writing of the film, in which the above-mentioned platoon is divided by the brutal activities that take place in the overtaking of a village in Vietnam.
Charlie Sheen plays the role that parallels the role played by Michael J. Fox in Casualties of War. He is the narrator who tells the story of his disillusion with the camaraderie that develops between men during service in the war, which he left a fairly cushy lifestyle to volunteer for.

I've never served in the military, much less been in battle, but it is clear that nothing is sugar-coated in this film, which leads me to willingly believe that what you see on the screen is exactly what it was like in Vietnam, especially given the fact that Oliver Stone served in that war himself. The war drama is made even more realistic by the fact that so many of the actors were, at the time at least, relatively unknown, which is one of the things that has always bothered me about Saving Private Ryan. In Platoon, these are just regular guys from everywhere and anywhere and nowhere, and they are all stuck in the same situation risking (and in many cases losing) their lives in battle.
The Vietnamese were portrayed as savages to some extent, but that's because they are obviously the antagonists from the point of view that the story is told, which is Private Chris Taylor's (Charlie Sheen) point of view. On the other hand, this portrayal can be forgiven because their tactics in many of the battle scenes are fairly clear, it's obvious how intelligently they fought the war.
I think that one of the things that makes Platoon so good is some of the many memorable scenes in the film, particularly those involving Sergeant Elias, played brilliantly by William Dafoe. The view from the helicopter of him being chased (unarmed and suffering from gunshot wounds inflicted by someone on his own side) by dozens of rifle wielding Vietnamese soldiers is an absolutely terrible thing to witness, and is one of the many ways that the sheer brutality of this war is presented in this film.

Of the countless war films that are made, every once in a while a truly great one comes along, and Platoon is one of the great ones. It doesn't try to sugar coat anything, but presents the viciousness and violence of the Vietnam War as straightforwardly as possible, which is one of the many things that makes it so good. It is not only a startlingly realistic piece of entertainment, but also a good place to learn a little bit about the kinds of things that went on in the Vietnam War, and what go on in any war. This is great cinema.