Stone's Crowning glory! (Platoon (DVD))

Member Name: Judgee

Product:	Platoon (DVD)
Date:	09/10/01 (212 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great everything

Disadvantages: Bit gory in places

The first in the Vietnam trilogy by director/writer Oliver stone, he went on to complete the trio with "Born on the 4th of July (1989)" and finally "Heaven And Earth (1993)". Stone is one of those directors with incredible history and I will say more about him later in my opinion.


The Cast list
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Charlie Sheen - Chris Taylor
Tom Berenger ? Sergeant Barnes
Willem Defoe ? Sergeant Elias
Forest Whitaker ? Big Harold
John C McGinley ? Sergeant O?Neill
Kevin Dillon ? Bunny
Johnny Depp ? Lerner
Francesco Quinn ? Rhar
Keith David ? King


The Story
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Chris Taylor (Sheen) is a fresh faced and very naïve recruit in Bravo Company. Dropping out of college to do his duty for his country, Taylor arrives in Vietnam to see the faces of hardened veterans, similar in years to himself but haggard and prematurely aged by the stress of the conflict.

Taylor narrates the story throughout and shares his thoughts and feelings with the audience.

September 1967, Taylor marches through a jungle near the Cambodian border. Here he encounters his first dead body, which disturbs him greatly, the longer serving members of the company ignore it as they have become used to these horrific scenes. Sergeant Barnes (Berenger) even jokes "What are you worried about Taylor, That?s a good gook, good and dead". He struggles on but suffers with the heat and physical exertion. Becoming faint, Sergeant Elias (Defoe) comes to his aid. Elias is a hardened veteran of the war with more than three years service under his belt. Elias helps to carry the new recruits kit and his wisdom helps Taylor to adjust to his new environment over time.

When checking out an enemy camp, one of the solders goes missing. Upon searching the area, Barnes and the rest of the troops discover his mutilated body down river. Fuelled up on hatred and revenge they
set out to find retribution. This they inflict on a nearby unsuspecting village. Guilty or not, Barnes decides to takes matters into his own hands with drastic consequences.

As the story progresses, the group is split by atrocities carried out by Barnes on this small village. Elias intervenes but it is too late as the damage is already done. The group is then morally split in two, the "good" with Elias, the "bad" with Barnes and tension grows from then onwards. Taylor is torn between these two Sergeants who he had previously admired, feeling his life as a soldier was "born" from these two men.

I will say no more on the story as always to prevent giving away too much to anybody who has yet to see the film.


The Actors/Characters
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Charlie Sheen is excellent as the new recruit Taylor, fresh in from a cosy lifestyle, thousands of miles away. With a family history of war veterans, Taylor starts out as seeing the war as a chance for glory and to carry on the family tradition. He soon realises that war is rarely a clear cut case of "good" verses "evil" and he certainly learns this the hard way. Mentally, Taylor forgets the world he has left behind. He even stops writing to his grandmother feeling it unimportant in the big scheme of things. Sheen's character develops throughout the film becoming hardened to the atrocities, eventually becoming despondent. He soon resembles the ghost like figures he first encountered when arriving in Vietnam. The main theme throughout the film is based on his development and the way he learns to cope with his surroundings and his own concscience.This was one of Sheens earliest performances and definitely one of his best.

Sergeant Elias played by Willem Defoe, is portrayed as a veteran soldier, fed up with the war. Despite all the atrocities and hardships he has seen, he still remains philosophical and shows gre
at kindness when those around him show very little. Defoe is at his charismatic best, evoking an instant appeal to the film viewers. Providing the "good guy" element to the film. Defoe has gone on to star in many films since but none that have really tested his acting abilities quite to the extent of Platoon.

"Barnes has been shot 7 times and he ain't dead yet" Barnes is caught up in a world that he relishes, a born leader of men, his bitterness shows through with every evil sneer and comment. Feeling immortal through his many encounters with death, Barnes strolls around barking orders at his men, living on the edge sanity as he goes. Barnes is played by Tom Berenger, providing the "evil" element to the film. Given facial scars he is instantly dislikeable. Berenger is another actor to go on to star in many more films. Another great performance, he really shines as a "bad guy" but has often portrayed characters from both the "good" and "evil" camps.

The rest of the cast are believable, from the psychotic "Bunny" played by a young Kevin Dillon to the meek and mild translator "Lerner" played by a VERY young Johnny Depp. They all play their parts well and add to the feel of the whole film.


Writer/Director
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Well what can you say about Oliver Stone, a living legend who has proved just as controversial in the real world as he has with his films. You could write a book on this man so I will try to be brief but his background plays an important part in the making of this film!

When friends were joining Universities to avoid the draft, Stone dropped out of Yale to enlist. Awarded the Bronze star and a Purple heart, Stone used his own experiences in writing and directing Platoon. He went on to make "Born on the 4th of July" starring Tom Cruise to continue his trilogy of Vietnam films, the second film to depict
life after the Vietnam war. The final film of this trilogy was "Heaven And Earth" created because he felt his first two films failed to show the war from a womans point of view.

Stone won academy awards for best director for both "Platoon" and "Born on the 4th of July". "Heaven And Earth" was less well received but then the first two were based mainly on his own personal experiences and perhaps this is what made the difference.

There is so much more you can say about this man, but it would literally go on forever. All I will do is list a few of his credits (just incase you are still not convinced of his film God like status!) some for writing, some for directing and some for both:!

Screen writer:

Midnight Express (1978)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Scarface (1983)
Year of the Dragon (1985)
8 Million ways to die 1986)

Writer/Director:

Salvador (1985) (Director only)
Platoon (1986)
Wall Street (1987)
Talk Radio (1988)
Born on the 4th of July (1989)
JFK (1991)
Heaven And Earth (1993)
Natural Born Killers (1995)

And many more (convinced yet?!)


The Music
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This was the second music score written by Georges Delerue for an Oliver stone film. The first one written being written for "Salvador (1985)". The music is quite frankly awesome. On it's own it is haunting and hypnotising. Used in the film it evokes great emotion, I cried when I first heard it and I still cry when I hear it now (guess I am just a big baby!). Adagio for strings really sticks in my mind and you will hear it when "Elias" is being chased through the jungle by the enemy. Even the hardiest of filmgoer cannot fail to be moved when they hear this music, if you feel no emotion listening to this then you are probably dead!

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Overall View
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Written and directed by a film God, using his own experiences to provide the film world with this masterpiece of sight and sound. The acting will impress you, the action will draw you in. The horror of war will shock you and the music will move you. Definitely one of Stones best, and certainly the best in the trilogy by far. Stone questions war and more importantly asked just who is right and who is wrong in any conflict. Indeed, during the conflict America was divided on the subject with many people feeling their soldiers should not even be there in the first place, others feeling it was Americas duty to make a stand against communism. Films brought out many years previously always portrayed a clear cut picture of good and evil. Although Stone does this, he does this with soldiers on the same, not opposing side and is certainly unique in this respect.

There were two other notable films made just after Platoons release involving the Vietnam war, "Hamburger Hill" (1987) Directed by John Irwin and "Full Metal Jacket"(1987) Directed by Stanley Kubrick, both creditable directors. Hamburger Hill focus on one particular battle and was made purely to shock the audience with the violence and complete waste of life in one of many battles that America could not possibly lose, or so they thought. Full Metal Jacket focuses more on the journey from raw recruit into trained killer. Questioning the methods used by the army to create these human killing machines. Both are worthy of a viewing, but Platoon is by far the best in terms of a complete film in all areas.

Platoon is 1 hour and 54 minutes long and available at around £7.50 from some online stores, you cannot go wrong, a must for any video collection! Full Metal Jacket is available for £13 and Hamburger Hill £5, although personally I would only rent the last two out as they will not stand up to repeated viewing, unlike Platoon!

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