Wasn't impressed or moved. Sorry.

Rating: 5/10 (6 November 2017)

I kind of feel bad saying that I didn't like this movie because of it's content but maybe I shouldn't. It has occurred to me that I might appreciate it more if I went back and watched it again, but I'm not very inclined to do so. Maybe I also just can't appreciate it as much because I'm a millennial and the Vietnam War is not exactly close to home for me like it would have been for people at the time of its release.
There were just a lot of problems that I found with it. First off, the characters were way to hard to tell apart. This isn't uncommon for war movies since everyone is by necessity dressed the same, but it was more of a problem here because the conflict was more character driven. I could not tell Elias and Barnes apart for the majority of the movie and definitely couldn't tell you how their views differed. I did try to pay attention, but I think that part of my confusion was caused by the two of them not getting distinct enough introductions or dialogue. This applied to all of the other characters too. They weren't distinct enough, and since, the enemy is within the platoon, as is so blatantly pointed out, there should have be more distinction between the characters. Taylor was another problem. He was really generic to the point that he did not feel real at all, which made his voice-over letters to his grandmother quite dry and his random acts of violence just seem weird. It seemed like he had strong views, but none of these really seemed to motivate him outside of his volunteering in the first place.
I know a lot of the appeal of the movie was how it portrayed the experience of the soldiers realistically. Obviously I wasn't in Vietnam so I can't exactly say whether it is, but I found Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" to be a lot more compelling and realistic-feeling than Platoon. Regardless, I did not connect with the characters' struggles that much. This is kind of where I feel bad saying that I didn't like it. I know it's not a movie to be enjoyed, but I really like movies that gross me out and make me cringe a little and there was nothing like that in Platoon that I could find.
So, I can't really recommend this that strongly. Obviously a lot of people like this movie, and I don't think badly of them for it, but I find Platoon to be overrated. I wouldn't watch it for fun, because it is by no means made for entertainment. It's kind of something that you should watch to be informed, whether about the Vietnam war or the soldier's plight or something. Overall Rating: 4.6/10