Platoon (1986)

My father showed me this film when I was 13. It had a lasting impact on me and I believe it helped shape how I understand war.

I've always found that Oliver Stone's films tend towards answering questions rather than asking them. To me this seems a bit arrogant. In many ways the film is a masterpiece; the story, acting (except Charlie Sheen), and photography are superb. What troubles me as I watch it is the non-chalent narration that Sheen's character adds. He is describing how his life changed during his tour in Vietnam and he isn't convincing at all.

Sheen was his 2-dimensional self, out looking to reproduce his father's epic performance in Apocalypse Now. He does OK, but doesn't captivate.

The scoring is also very unreal. I feel as though Stone is trying to make me react a certain way to the images I'm watching and the music doesn't work at all. It's just too melodramatic.

Now the good points - I really thought the characters were well defined and I had sympathy for nearly all of them. The missions, the deaths, the off time, the monotony, and the jungle were all excellent. Truly moving and compelling were the allegiances that members of the platoon had towards each other.

With all the criticisms I have of the film, it is still a marvellous story and I believe it set a standard 21 years ago for how war should be depicted in the future.

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