The phrase “like
father like son” applies really well to Martin and Charlie Sheen. In 1979
Martin Sheen starred in Apocalypse Now,
an intense Vietnam War movie that puts its actors through hell. Not to be
outdone in 1986 Charlie Sheen was put through an actual boot camp training for
Oliver Stone’s Platoon. Sadly
nowadays the younger Sheen is better known for starring in sitcoms and behaving
wildly offscreen, but Platoon shows
there is a great actor buried beneath the tabloid fodder.
Platoon can definitely be described as a guy film in the sense that it features
a mostly all-male cast that spends most of its time doing very violent things.
A romantic comedy this is not. So obviously I watched it when I was in my late
teens with my brother. I am pretty sure we had already seen Apocalypse Now, but even so there are
scenes of violence in Platoon that
will rattle your cage the first time around. Oliver Stone based the film on his
own experiences in Vietnam to give an accurate portrayal of the war. I don’t
know about accurate, but if he was aiming for visceral then mission
accomplished.
Sheen stars as
Chris Taylor, a college dropout who in 1967 volunteered for combat duty in
Vietnam. As the movie progresses both Taylor and the audience begin to wonder,
what kind of a demented idea was it to volunteer
to go to Vietnam? Taylor and the rest of his platoon are not doing their
tour in some secure military base surrounded by bullet-proof vehicles. They are
in the hot and humid jungle where they can get killed any day by enemy fire,
enemy traps, and sometimes even friendly fire. I always found that a weird. Are
bullets fired in your direction ever “friendly?”
Stone shows the
troops as morally falling apart doing drugs whenever they can and contemplating
injuring themselves to be sent home. As for regulations, those begin to loosen
up more and more every time the platoon gets attacked. It all comes down to
Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger) and Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe). Elias is well
liked by the soldiers and Taylor sees him as a mentor. Barnes on the other hand
is a border line war criminal who has no problem with putting a gun to the head
of a Vietnamese girl when he suspects her dad may or may not have information
about the enemy.
In a more
old-fashioned Hollywood movie the bad guy would get what’s coming to him and
the good guy would be rewarded for doing the right thing. Not so in Platoon. It shows war as complete and
utter chaos, especially during the final battle in the third act when all hell
breaks loose. The level of violence is unrelenting, with the enemy pummelling
the platoon from every direction. War is hell, and it’s even worse when hell
comes at night with grenade launchers.
The movie is also
notable for being one of the first movies for many successful future successful
actors. In addition to Sheen’s Taylor, the platoon is also made up of John C.
McGinley, Tony Todd, Forest Whitaker, Keith David, and even a young Johnny
Depp. That’s an impressive roster and sadly most of these actors would go on to
make much better movies than Platoon’s
star.
Sheen’s
questionable career aside, Platoon definitely
ranks as one of the top war movies ever made, very close to Apocalypse Now. The fact the two films share similar themes and
stars led to a pretty good gag in Hot
Shot: Part Deux.
Comments
Post a Comment