second half saves the film from mediocrity. (Minor Spoilers)

Rating: 6/10 (15 July 2002)

The first hour of "Platoon" is so poorly written I thought this was going to destroy the entire picture. It is the most basic humanist story imaginable that a little snot like myself who has never fought in war could have predicted that the message of the film would be "War is hell" yadda yadda yadda Charlie Sheen is so unconvincing. I like how Stone chose to show his growth as a person and a soldier in the span of five minutes:
Sheen cruelly shoots at the feet of the one- legged civilian boy making him dance. Less than five minutes later he walks up a hill to see platoon men raping a civilian and suddenly he's mister humanitarian. "She's a human being man" yeah OK mr. humanitarian.
The drug use in the film was portrayed as playful and cool rather than the cheap escape it actually was. Also Stone paints the good and evil lines so obviously apart that there is no conflict for hearts and minds. War is about good and evil not good versus evil. The Vietnam war is a prime example of that.
On the upside however, willem dafoe was great as elias barns monologue on death was compelling and the closing battle sequence was the best depicted chaos of the Vietnam war. Probably more realistic than the order and battle lines depicted in most Vietnam films. However if you wanna a great film that says something more than "war is hell" check out Full Metal Jacket the best Vietnam film of the bunch. Overall not bad the second half of Platoon is better than the by-the-numbers first half. 6 out of 10