Very strong war film that deals with not only the physical horrors of war but the psyche and masculinity challenges the soldiers face.

Rating: 9/10 (31 December 2007)

Don't let any thing anyone says about this film fool you for Platoon has broken my top 50 and has very quickly etched its way into my list I have at the back of my mind detailing my favourite films in the war genre. A conclusion I came to when watching Platoon and something that is echoed during new recruit Chris Taylor (Sheen) in one of his voiceovers is that the real enemy is indeed the one from within your own side; the conflict that is going on within a band of people all attempting to prove how macho each other can be over the others: disagreements over authority is a common re-occurrence. This made me make a connection to how American's at home took to the Vietnam War at the time ie; they didn't like what they were seeing and hearing thus; were also against what was happening. The voice of authority is being heard and causing problems not only in the film's platoon but also on the homeland as people complain.
While this is just scratching the surface when it comes to dealing with the film's theme, Platoon on its own is a brilliantly well crafted; atmospheric and engaging film that shocks and pulls at your emotional strings with haunting music and issues that surround war. War is not merely two sides fighting in a jungle/desert/town but in-between battles it's about relations with your comrades; dealing with civilians and sorting out the messes that your squad encounter and I love it when war films deal with this subject matter. Platoon wastes no time in introducing itself: the ramp comes down to unveil new supposed cannon fodder as previous dead GIs are carried off. "Welcome to the 'Nam." jibes a soldier. But Platoon is more than fancy film-making; it's a film made by Oliver Stone who knows what's what when it comes to Vietnam: Taylor is fighting for a society back home; a belief that Vietnam (and the rest of the world) shouldn't fall to Communism and it's a society that will ultimately reject him and his actions as it will all the soldiers: "F***ing politics" says one character on multiple occasions which acts as a substitute for 'S*** happens' only the guy is forced to be made aware of the predicament he's in and now cannot dismiss where he is and what he's doing in a carefree manner.
I feel the best scenes in Platoon are not necessarily the fight scenes although they're still impressive. Platoon deals with the immediate 'just before' and immediate aftermath of gunfights. One such scene during which Taylor experiences the Vietcong for the first time is a good example: it's night, quiet and Taylor is the only one awake: he looks down a corridor of jungle and sees figures move towards him. Such a scene is shot using Taylor's POV, the reaction of his eyes and the close up of his head as he is frozen in fear, half putting is hood on. Such an atmospheric piece of film-making really puts you in the zone and briefly; I was there with Taylor in that clearing. Coming from Stone, a veteran; is the portrayal of Vietnam as a place where it's not just the gunfights that are terrible: Sheen narrates his letters to his Grandmother, not his parents showing a further emphasis of being cut off; that he has to dig all the time  he hates it in a week. Taylor must also face ants and mosquito's as well as emptying the toilets with fellow soldiers: the gunfights just seem like the filler in-between all the other crap. That is, after all, what they're there for.
Platoon also uses a scene during which the squad encounter a village to good effect. One reason I loved Apocalypse Now so much was the fact it moves the action away from the jungle and onto a river but they still encounter seemingly innocent people on a transport boat. In Platoon, the village is a substitute for the boat as seemingly innocents are searched and harmed in the aim to find something they can pin them for. Needless to say, both film's characters have dealt with loss very recently and are foaming at the mouth in search of revenge. While reminiscent of Soviet film Come and See, the village scene is an actual liquidation and contains, arguably, the film's most disturbing scene when a villager is shot and the rest of the family react in the way they do. A scene involving Taylor and a supposed execution challenges a soldiers psyche: 'talking the talk and walking the walk' since all Vietnamese are apparently the enemy, surely all of them must die at first time of asking. Taylor has that chance with a cripple and Sergeant Barnes (Berenger) has that chance with a little girl but his actions and macho image clash with his psyche thus putting himself in an eerie position which is very clever and involving film-making.
With its portrayal as Vietnam as a place that is not just guns, death and dying but including that as an emotional trigger; Platoon spreads its character development and interaction in a fantastic way whilst remaining real and violent with enough scenes to either have you evoking an emotion of some sort: anger, sadness, relief or any other along those lines. With a great soundtrack and enough content to truly put anyone off going to war, Platoon must remain in any war genre cannon as well as be used as an example of film-making.