Quite good...but

Rating: 7/10 (4 March 2012)

Platoon does a nice job of balancing reality with Hollywood theater. The atmosphere is pretty much spot on, with only a few scenes going a bit over the top. The "war" in Vietnam was supposed to be a somewhat normal "by the book" conflict, but everyone on the ground found out fast that the rule book just wasn't translated into Vietnamese. The characters portray the general feelings that persisted through much of the war, including the in fighting and back stabbing in some units. It was a brutal, non-standard conflict, and it reflects that reality all the way through the movie...
But...the movie also crosses the line by implying that the conduct of the soldiers in Platoon is somehow justified. As the years after Vietnam have come and gone, we are seeing more and more incidents where American soldiers are not holding to the conduct that built this nation. Iran. Afghanistan and Pakistan are merely the latest examples of how our own moral values have been left by the wayside.
Anyway, overall this movie is gratingly accurate in showing the realities of "modern warfare" on the ground. I liked it, but it also made me cringe at the same time. Perhaps that is the real intent of the movie, and it does make you rethink your own values...