Saving Private Sheen....

Rating: Null/10 (12 August 2000)

This one was a great film both in its day and in the present too. Great tension between Berenger and Dafoe, chaotic, brutal battle scenes, stirring music, realistic combat footage and drug use, moods, reactions of the fighting men too. Stone was there, this bears the stamp of authenticity. Yeah the Berenger/Dafoe conflict is kinda forced; sure Sheen is hardly the best actor to be at the center of such an important film, and yeah, I know about the complaints of racism on Stone's parts-black soldiers as cowardly addicts, etc.-but sod it, these things did happen and do happen.
As for the Private Ryan comparison, well-Private Ryan was made for a much bigger budget, it was done on a bigger scale by a very different director in a different era. I believed what happened in Platoon more so than in Ryan, save for the landing/last battle; Speilberg's story arc is just too...I donno, outta an episode of 'Combat' while 'Platoon' strove for something greater. I think Stone gets at the heart of the regular grunts better than Spielberg did. Remember, Stevie boy got a college deferment to stay outta 'Nam while Stone was right in the thick of the rice paddies. That in itself oughta supply all the backing you need for my thinking.
I am def. giving this one **** outta ****. 'Bout time.