Platoon

UK Release Date: 24 April 1987

Certification: 15

Director: Oliver Stone

Cast: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David, Johnny Depp, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Francesco Quinn, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker

Rating: 91%

Review:

A true war epic. Powerful and profound. Visceral and grainy. Platoon is an incredibly immersive and sincere experience. The audience can't hear certain lines of dialogue, can't distinguish characters from one another and it's extremely difficult to know what is going on 100% of the time. The film feels real. You feel involved with the story, consumed by the horrors of war. 

Charlie Sheen is convincing as the film's main protagonist. Arriving both into the film and the war as a young recruit, the audience grows and learns alongside Chris - naive to begin with but destroyed by the anguish the Vietnam War caused. In many ways, Chris is the audience. A bystander simply watching the events pass him by. 

Despite that, Platoon belongs to the supporting cast. Willem Dafoe delivers a career best. Everything he does is magnetic, you are transfixed on every move. Elias is irresistible, unfathomable, an unstoppable force of nature. He's a role model for his platoon providing a sense of hope. He doesn't let his surroundings corrupt him, maintaining his morals throughout. Dafoe earned a rightful Oscar nomination for his powerhouse performance. On the opposite end of the spectrum (also receiving a nomination for best supporting actor), Tom Berenger is awful in all the right ways. An excellent personification of the dehumanising effects of war. Cold, jaded and despicable, Barnes disregards the feelings of his fellow soldiers and is solely focused on survival. Clearly demonstrating a superiority complex as he takes action to end the war after witnessing incompetent hierarchies hamper their efforts. 

Georges Delerue's score is iconic. One of the most recognisable pieces of music within the film industry. Quite simply beautiful. It encapsulates the film's themes expertly through a few strums of a violin. Deeply emotional and moving. 

As said previously, Platoon feels real (largely due to Oliver Stone's real-life experiences during the Vietnam War). The audience feels like you're experiencing war alongside these characters making certain moments hit that much harder. There is a death scene in Platoon that is expertly executed. Stone provides the audience with a glimmer of hope only to betray your expectations. Filming a heart-breaking, gut-wrenching scene accompanied by 'Adagio For Strings'. My only real complaint of Platoon is that after this scene the film struggles to remain as intriguing. Other than that, I absolutely adored Platoon and the experience the film brought with it.