Movie Review "Platoon" (1986) Starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, and Charlie Sheen

The year 2011 marks the 25^th anniversary of the release of "Platoon," one of the best and most highly honored films of all time. Starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, and Charlie Sheen, and written and directed by Oliver Stone, "Platoon" was released on December 24, 1986. It took everyone - actors, producers, critics, moviegoers, and even Oliver Stone himself - by surprise. Audiences loved it; critics raved about it; and the film took home 4 Academy Awards - including Best Picture and Best Director - on Oscar Night in 1987.

Since then, "Platoon" has become a modern-day war movie classic. It appears on both the 1997 and 2007 American Film Institute lists of the "Top 100 Movies of All Time."

"Platoon" is a movie about the Vietnam War. It's based on Oliver Stone's personal experiences as a combat infantryman in Vietnam in 1967-68. This is essentially a film about a young man making hard choices in the midst of the chaos of war. The film's central character is Private Chris Taylor (played by Charlie Sheen), an impressionable and idealistic young man who, unlike most of his fellow soldiers, is an Army volunteer. From his very first moments in "the 'Nam," Taylor finds his idealism and youthful enthusiasm severely put to the test by both his comrades-in-arms and by his surroundings.

As "Platoon" opens, Taylor is immediately forced to confront the first, most basic reality of war: men die in combat. During his very first moments after getting off the transport plane that brought him to Vietnam, he must watch as dead soldiers in body bags are loaded onto that same transport plane for their return trip to the United States.

Very quickly, the inexperienced Taylor finds himself assigned to a platoon that's comprised mostly of seasoned veterans who are also typically under-educated, poor draftees. They are men who, for the most part, are simply putting in their time until their tour ends, with them returning home as either survivors or casualties of the war.

The platoon leader is weak and incompetent. He's assisted by two combat-tested noncoms who loathe each other: the sadistically authoritarian, embittered Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger) and the affable but ambitious Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe). Platoon members are forced to choose sides in the ongoing feud between these two strong-willed rivals.

Throughout his tour of duty, Taylor must make a series of difficult choices. Soon after he arrives, the unit is sent out to patrol an area of thick jungle near the border between South Vietnam and Cambodia, an area infested with North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers. How will Taylor react the first time he experiences combat? In the battle between Barnes and Elias for the heart and soul of the platoon, which side will Taylor choose - Barnes's or Elias's? When the platoon is ordered to burn a local village in reprisal for the villagers' hiding the enemy's weapons and ammunition, does Taylor have the courage and integrity to try and prevent the commission of atrocities against the villagers - or will he join in? What will he do when he's presented with an opportunity to rid himself, once and for all, of a platoon member that he has come to despise?

You will have to watch this outstanding film to find out!

When I first saw "Platoon" in 1987, my first impression of it was very positive. Everything about it impressed me: the outstanding acting, especially by Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, John C. McGinley, and Keith David; the gritty, realistic combat scenes that so clearly depicted the utter chaos of battle; the crackling dialog; and the taut, suspenseful, and tension-filled storyline. All these factors combined to make this one of the best films I had ever seen up to that time.

"Platoon" was good - very good, in fact. However, as much as I enjoyed it when I saw it for the first time, I discovered that it didn't engender within me a strong emotional reaction like it did to a lot of my friends and co-workers. I didn't feel particularly "connected" with any of the characters; I didn't grieve with Taylor when his brothers-in-arms were killed; I didn't feel a sense of betrayal or outrage when American soldiers committed atrocities against Vietnamese civilians; nor did I feel gripped by fear or dread in scenes depicting the enemy approaching American positions. As good as "Platoon" was, it didn't get me talking about it over the coffee pot at work.

I certainly liked "Platoon" well enough to buy a copy of it when it was released on DVD in 2001. Nowadays, I usually watch the film about once a year. Last weekend seemed like a perfect time for me to sit back and follow once again the exploits of Taylor, Barnes, Elias, Wolfe, O'Neil, King, Junior, Lerner, Big Harold, Bunny, and Rhah, as they bravely fought their way through the jungles of Vietnam in 1967-68.

This time, when I watched "Platoon," something curious happened to me. For the first time ever, I found myself making that emotional connection that had I been missing since I first saw the film a quarter-century ago. I found myself genuinely saddened when I watched soldiers saying "good-bye" to their comrades killed in battle. I was outraged by the burning of the Vietnamese village, the murder of a mentally handicapped young Vietnamese man and his mother, and the attempted rape of a little girl by American soldiers.

I felt the joy of the soldier who realized he had survived his year in "the 'Nam" intact, and was now going home.

Most of all, I felt a little bit of the burden that Vietnam veterans carry with them to this day. I understood for the first time what it must have been like for those who fought in Vietnam, and what it must feel like today to be a survivor of that long-ago conflict.

MY VERDICT: I've never been a huge fan of Oliver Stone or his films, but I will give him his due: "Platoon" is truly an outstanding film, and certainly the best that Stone has ever made. Imbued as it is with superb acting, a brilliant script, and a taught, tense story line, this film shows, better than any other film, how the war in Vietnam affected the individual soldier, and how, as the movie's tag line states:

"The first casualty of war is innocence."

SOURCES:

Personal viewing - "Platoon" (DVD feature film)

Personal viewing - "Tour of the Inferno" (Making of "Platoon" documentary; DVD Bonus Material)