"You wish you weren't there
1987Joseph Ryan 1987-02Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 16 →
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Platoon, a film written and directed by Oliver Stone. Cast: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Defoe, Keith David.
The movie "Platoon" has gotten favorable reviews from virtually every sector of the press. From the Communist Party-published People's Daily World to the Hearst-owned San Francisco Examiner, all reviewers have given "Platoon" a "thumbs up."
Their reasons may be different, but all reviewers agree that the realism, brutality, and intensity that director Oliver Stone (a Vietnam vet) portrays as the Vietnam experience is long overdue. After seeing the movie twice, I have to agree.
As a counterpoint to propaganda "cartoons" like "Rambo" and "Missing in Action," this film is brilliantly effective in its accurate depiction of the day-to-day horror of the Vietnam War. Whether it leaves you numb or in tears, you'll be thinking about it for days afterward.
"Platoon" is a great war movie. And because it's about the Vietnam "Platoon" is a great antiwar movie.
From the opening scene, when Chris Taylor (played by Charlie Sheen) and other replacements arrive into the swirling dust and blinding heat of Vietnam, to the next scene of the 2nd Platoon of Bravo Company walking through the triplecanopied jungle of the Central Highlands, the viewer is made to feel just like the soldiers do: You wish you weren't there. As the film grinds on to its explosive climax, this dreadful feeling only deepens.
The central protagonist in the movie, Chris Taylor is a rich boy who has dropped out of college, joined the Army, and volunteered for combat in Vietnam. He's an