Platoon (1986)
Many war films deal in some capacity with a depiction of “war is hell” and what does to people. This is no exception, so what it does differently is what I am looking for in war films. I found it to be great in some aspects and uneven in other areas. I grew up with Charlie Sheen in Hot Shots and later Spin City, so I admit it was a bit difficult to see him in such a role. He does okay, but he is mostly outshine by the rest of the cast who deliver impeccable performances.
I liked how the film captures the boredom and how tired everyone is. People just want to live.
The standout moment for me was the brutal destruction of the small Vietnamese village, where we get to see what the soldiers have become. Trigger happy nerve wrecks and a group dynamic that makes them psychopaths, even though they try and resist what the circumstances is doing to them, they can’t escape it. And of course some solve by fully embracing the killer mentality.
The rest is well made standard warzone narrative, which is good in its own right, but I never felt it really built much on the various characters and their mental development. It got somewhat melodramatic.
Rating: 3.5