Lock & Load!

Rating: 9/10 (19 February 1999)

This Oliver Stone Oscar winner led a wave of gritty Vietnam combat films during the mid '80's. Rookie marine Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is projected in one leap from the security of middle America to the blood and squalor of a war which can never be won.
Uncompromising in its use of soldier's language and graphic violence, the plot follows Taylor through a hellish baptism in a platoon made up of psychotics, criminals and plain murderers. Initially he is shunned by the veterans, but slowly develops the skills and traits of a combat Marine - having to suspend all thoughts of decent living in the process. Like all around him, the countdown to the end of his tour becomes a fixation.
In this no-rules environment, rivalries amongst the men take on brutish proportions and the domineering Barnes (Tom Berenger) battles with a fellow sergeant (Willem Dafoe) with, as far as Barnes is concerned, only one suitable outcome.
From the chilling silence of the jungle to the thunderous roar of full scale battle, this is a tense film, but with clear moral messages from Stone - war has no winners. A testimony to the horrors suffered by many who were there.