It's with Stone's slightly journalistic slant that this honest Vietnam War flick finds its footing.

Rating: 6/10 (19 April 2018)

It's with Stone's slightly journalistic slant that this Vietnam War film finds its footing as a more accurate and honest depiction of a well-publicised conflict, one that's clearly informed by the director's own experiences and his understandable desire to portray them in an unbiased, truthful way often not done in favour of more patriotic fare. Yet, 'Platoon (1986)' still suffers from the almost clip-show mentality most war pictures tend to adopt, even though it is told from the perspective of the soldiers in a very 'boots-on-the-ground' kind of way and isn't concerned with the larger picture of generals moving pieces on a proverbial chessboard. Thankfully, an inner struggle soon starts to emerge within the titular platoon and it is this, along with the individual development of the characters and how they handle the impossible situations they are placed in, that forms the basis for the overarching story. The piece always manages to maintain at least some semblance of narrative amongst the battles and boredom of long-form infantry life. 6/10