I knew I was going to have to watch this movie sometime this year (hopefully) because it is one of the Academy Awards' Best Picture winners, and one of my goals-within-a-goal is to watch as many of the ones I haven't seen as I can. The reason I decided on this one today is that its license for streaming from Netflix is up at the end of the month (as are several Woody Allen films that must have been some sort of package deal), so it was either watch it this week or wait even longer until I feel like putting the DVD in the queue.
I know absolutely nothing about this film (save the iconic image from the ad box) and that Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen (MOG.) were in it. Pretty excited to see Willem Dafoe among the main names, too, since he's pretty awesome. Oh yeah, and it's like, a war movie, or something.
The framing device for this specific war movie seems to be Charlie Sheen dictating to his grandma detailing the people in his camp and the day-to-day realities of the group. It's believable enough, what with all the correspondence that happens during the war.
Oh my goodness, Golden Girls sighting! The lieutenant is the actor who played Blanche's husband's illegitimate child with another woman. Haha. His name was David, and the episode title was "An Illegitimate Concern." Yes, I know way too much about The Golden Girls.
Platoon is a good example of a what's-right-what's-wrong war movie that challenges the viewers conceptions of what the "normal" human being would do in the most trying of circumstances. The acting is fairly believable - Dafoe and Berenger are excellent, and Sheen is pretty good, too. (Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, and John C. McGinley have minor roles, as well.) The story is even and suspenseful in the right places, and it focuses most ably on the human condition. What started out to me as a typical war movie became more archetypal. Think Jarhead, with action. Of course, when I finally see Saving Private Ryan, that'll leap to the head of the class, but that's for another day.
Score: 8.5/10
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