The ugliness of war as seen by an infantry platoon...

Rating: 7/10 (21 October 2006)

I saw this one years after it was made and the biggest imprint on me was making me feel depressed after watching how the men struggled to keep their sanity in a war that made no sense to anyone at the time.
CHARLIE SHEEN is excellent as the college youth whose innocence about man's inhumanity to man gradually changes during the course of ground combat in the jungles of Vietnam; and WILLIAM DAFOE and TOM BERENGER excel as two Marine sergeants who oppose each other (hate is a better word) with Berenger being the brutal bully and Dafoe representing a saner approach.
Oliver Stone won his Best Picture/Best Director award and it's easy to see why. He kept the film's narrow focus on the men and the struggle they all have for survival under brutal circumstances. Missing are the stereotyped war buddies so commonly seen in the '40s films (the guy from Brooklyn, the dumb newbie, the baby-faced Marine) and instead we have more realistic characters facing a relatively unseen enemy hidden in the thick brush and using the kind of profane language servicemen commonly do whether in wartime or peace.
It's quite an achievement in capturing all the ugliness of war up close and personal--but clearly not a film for everyone. And because it doesn't paint a rosy picture of America at war, it can be particularly depressing to watch at this time. Another possible flaw is that it has no clearly discernible plot and you're left constantly wondering where the whole story is going.