“I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy. We fought ourselves. And the enemy was in us.”

by Kevin Gaussoin, Editor-in-Chief

Back before he was “Winning!” Charlie Sheen was a great young actor and one only needs to look to Platoon for proof. Sheen (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Young Guns, Major League, Hot Shots) plays Private Chris Taylor, a newbie idealistic rich kid full of the tiger blood of youth, fresh off the plane coming to Vietnam to try and fight the good fight for the right reasons. Over the course over his year-long tour of duty, Taylor sees a lot of terrible things, and in his final voiceover, pronounces the quote above. Since this is a year in a young man’s life, clearly a lot of things are cut out, but the overarching story remaining tells a morality tale via a personality conflict tale told from a third person.

The conflict is not between the US and the NVA, but between two Staff Sergeants, Barnes played by Tom Beringer (Major League, Training Day, Inception) and Elias played by Willem Dafoe (The Last Temptation of Christ, Boondock Saints, Spider-Man). Through the eyes of Taylor and the omniscient camera, we witness that Barnes has been twisted by war inside and out and that he hates and envies Elias for being able to fight a war when he is needed and then unlike Barnes, Elias is able to turn it off and relax with his when the platoon returns to base. The rest of the ensemble-but-expendable cast includes Johnny Depp (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Alice in Wonderland, Rango, Pirates of the Caribbean), Keith David (Gargoyles, The Princess and the Frog, The Cape), Forest Whitaker(Good Morning Vietnam, Phone Booth, The Last King of Scotland), Kevin Dillon (Entourage), Tony Todd (Candyman, Stargate SG-1, Chuck), John C. McGinley (Se7en, Scrubs, Justice League), and Mark Moses (Star Trek: Enterprise, Mad Men).

I understand that a lot of Vietnam veterans do not like this movie, and I only have hearsay to go on as to how accurately it depicts the war there. I do know that as a child I saw both Platoon and Full Metal Jacket with my father, a marine who did multiple tours in Vietnam, a scout who was the only surviving member of his own platoon on two separate occasions, a US citizen that was scorned by people back home, a veteran who was told by the VA that he did not in fact suffer long term affects from Agent Orange including the pancreatic cancer that lead to his death. I only know that he told me that both films rang true to him all those years later and I remember seeing a look of validation on his face both times we left the theater. I just wish he were here now to give me a more thorough comparison.

See? Vietnam is still a hot button topic for all its survivors.

Audio

Boom goes the dynamite, err, the mortar rounds, right through your surround sound and into your earholes at your preferred volume. Likewise, now you can rememeber why this film won the Oscar for best sound. Platoon on Blu-ray has clear speech, foley to die for, and crystal clear quiet parts where you can hear the NVA creeping up ever so quietly until… MORE EXPLOSIONS! (This is a war movie after all)

Video

Now at 1080p resolution with the best resolution since I saw Platoon on the big screen at the Loma Theater in… 1986. Wow, it has been a while.

Extras

• Audio Commentary by Director Oliver Stone
• Audio Commentary by Military Advisor Dale Dye
• Deleted and Extended Scenes with Optional Commentary by Oliver Stone (deleted for good reasons but interesting to watch)
• Flashback to Platoon: Snapshot in Time: 1967 – 1968; Creating the ’Nam; Raw Wounds: The Legacy of Platoon (Not as frightening as the title suggests but if you’re a vet who still hits the deck when a car backfires you may want a Xanax first.)
• Documentaries: One War, Many Stories; Preparing for ’Nam (These are worth browsing through.)
• Vignettes: Caputo & the 7th Fleet; Dye Training Method; Gordon Gekko
• Theatrical Trailer and TV Spots

Overall

Whether or not the actions depicted were typical of that war I certainly cannot say. What I do know is that film, while clearly trying to tell a story that also expresses an opinion, is a great work worthy of the accolades it has been afforded. While as a singular work it cannot be accurate to all viewers, maybe it as a story can still be true for us all. It is a reckoning with the intense events and emotion of one of the worst wars we Americans have known. If you, like me, haven’t seen it since it was in theaters, maybe you owe yourself or your veteran another look with older eyes. Now is a perfect time to get your copy.

ComicsOnline gives Platoon on Blu-ray 4 out of 5 salutes to our Vietnam veterans.

Get Platoon on Blu-ray at Amazon now!

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