"When I﻿ die, bury me upside-down, so the world can kiss my ass"

Rating: 10/10 (4 January 2011)

A+ Undoubtedly one of the best war films ever made, if not one of the THE best films of all time. Where to begin with such a film? A lot of this goes to Oliver Stone, who actually served in the God-forsaken jungles of Vietnam. The film really brings to light the atrocities and pointlessness of the Vietnam War full force, all cleverly represented by the soldiers who fought these not so courageous and valor-filled battles.
The conflict is simple at a glance; Chris Taylor, played superbly by Charlie Sheen, is a young recruit who in a similar trait to the Civil War novel "The Red Bade of Courage" is naively eager to be a proud and loyal soldier fighting against Communism, as he believes, nobly. However, he soon finds that "the 'Nam" is nothing like he thought it would be. The Vietnam is portrayed as realistically as it will ever be here: as a chaotic, dark, and all to real nightmare. It is within this hell he realizes that there are only two ways to truly endure the war: Give into near animal instincts, discarding all morals and perspectives of decency or find ways to escape the war at least for short bursts. Taylor decides to choose the latter, but regardless the platoon is divided by these two choices, on one side being Barnes, who will let the war consume them completely. The other is Elias, who represents Taylor's last grasp to his humanity. Many choose one path and never turn away from it, despite the fact that many of these men will die regardless. The underlying conflict is how you spend those last remaining days, minutes, instances of life. And all along the Vietcong are just an outside force who the soldiers have no real chance of understanding or negotiating with , just one of the many hazards they will have to survive.
Tom Berenger is endlessly great as Barnes, and Willem Dafoe is no less stunning. Every performance is stunning and captures the very real fear of war. Among the many other stand out performances in this picture are Kevin Dillon as the sadistic Bunny, John C. McGinley as Sgt. O'Neill, Francesco Quinn as Rhah, Johnny Depp as Lerner, Forest Whitaker as Big Harold and Keith David as the unforgettable King. And the coup de grace, an unforgettable and heartbreaking score by the late Georges Delerue and Samuel Barber, such beautiful and yet clearly pained music. "Platoon" will never cease to be my favorite war flick ever.