Watching a movie
that was released a year after I was born introduces me to actors I’ve come to
respect now, I see them at their young age, being the best they can be. I get to see them
when they were younger, trying to make a name for themselves. Here’s a list of
the men who were in this movie—most of whom, except the first two, had
supporting or minor roles:
- Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men)
- Tom Berenger (Hatfields & McCoys)
- Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man)
- Kevin Dillon (Entourage)
- Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
- Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean)
- Mark Moses (Desperate Housewives)
The movie is good, with scenes so well depicted that I’m glad I never had to witness such things firsthand. It has a way of gluing you to your seat until the end, but the pacing of the movie can feel uneven, especially with some slower scenes that break the tension.
Platoon is
a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone, who was also a
war veteran. The story is based on his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in
Vietnam. He says the movie’s aim is to counter the vision of the war portrayed
in John Wayne’s The Green Berets. Platoon is the first film in
Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War trilogy, followed by Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
and Heaven & Earth (1993).
The movie is narrated by Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), who drops out of college and volunteers for combat duty in Vietnam. There, he serves under the lazy and less influential Platoon Commander Lt. Wolfe, the experienced, more dominant Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), who has been shot seven times and bears scars all over his face and another experienced laid back Sergeant Elias.
Taylor struggles
to fit in as the platoon is divided into two sides: some are on Staff Sergeant
Barnes’ side, while others side with Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe). The two
groups are constantly at each other’s throats. Taylor connects with Elias and his group of marijuana smokers, keeping his distance from Barnes and his more hardened followers.
During the war,
Taylor witnesses many atrocities, including backstabbing, rape, and murder—all
of which harden him into a better fighter. The film’s heavy focus on the war's brutalities can overshadow the character development, and this mix of slow pacing and underdeveloped characters takes away from the movie's overall impact for me.
The movie
cleaned up at the box office, turning its $6 million budget into over $138
million. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1986, along with Best
Director for Oliver Stone, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing.
It’s a great
movie about the war, and I sure hope you get to see it.
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