Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #981 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-09-18
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Vietnamese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 114 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Winning a raft of awards, not least of which four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, Oliver Stone's Platoon was a box-office smash heralding Hollywood's second wave of Vietnam war films. Where predecessors The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979) were elaborate epics, Platoon simply showed the daily reality of the war from the point of view of ordinary soldiers. Stone's own service in Vietnam gives his work a unique authenticity.

Charlie Sheen gives his best performance to date, enduring a series of increasingly large-scale and bloody battles which retrospectively make one wonder why Saving Private Ryan was hailed as so new. Against this gruelling verity the film falters over the symbolic conflict between good and evil sergeants played by Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger. Even though this was also based in real life, it strikes a too conventionally Hollywood-like note in a film which otherwise maintains much of the raw power of Stone's other film from 1986, Salvador. Johnny Depp fans should look out for an early appearance by the star. Stone would return to Vietnam with the more sophisticated Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven and Earth (1993).

On the DVD: The 50-minute documentary "Tour of the Inferno" goes beyond the usual "making-of" to present a personal account both of the film and of Stone's own time in Vietnam. Likewise the two audio commentaries--one by Stone, the other by Captain Dale Dye, fellow veteran and military technical advisor--range between the making of the film and the degree to which the actors came to inhabit their parts, to their own wartime experiences. Both commentaries bring a fresh level of appreciation and understanding to the film. Also included is the original trailer and three TV commercials, together with well-presented stills galleries of behind-the-scenes photos and poster art. Following a credit sequence marred by dirt on the print, the anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 image is sharp and clear. The many night scenes are very dark but remain easily comprehensible. The three-channel Dolby Digital sound is suitably raw and powerful, though an early sequence featuring rain in the jungle suffers from very distracting repeated drop-outs in the left channel. --Gary S Dalkin

Synopsis
In PLATOON, Oliver Stone uses his experience as an infantryman in Vietnam to convey the immediacy of guerrilla warfare: the brutal heat of the jungle, the brushes with such wildlife as snakes and leeches, and, most powerfully, the presence of the unseen enemy. Charlie Sheen stars as Chris, a raw recruit, or "new meat," who serves as the film's narrator. At first he wilts under the rigorous conditions of jungle life, freezes up in a firefight, and wonders whether he'll be able to survive. But he gradually adapts and, as time goes by, begins to see that the platoon is divided into two groups. One consists of lifers, juicers, and subintelligent whites, the other of blacks and heads. Sgt. Barnes, a combat-loving burnout (Tom Berenger), is the informal leader of the lifers, and Sgt. Elias, a free spirit (Willem Dafoe), leads the latter group. When the platoon takes some gruesome losses while on an o.p., an enraged Barnes kills some Vietnamese who may or may not have been VC and orders the burning of their village, outraging the temporarily absent Elias. As the conflict between these two reaches its tragic denouncement, Chris must decide what he really values. Widely regarded as one of the finest war films ever made, PLATOON reflects not only the nation's division over Vietnam but it intimately conveys timeless verities of battle: terror, disorientation, exhilaration, and horrible loss.

From the Back Cover
A triumph! A staggering study of war.

Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture, and based on the first-hand experience of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, "Platoon" is powerful, intense and starkly brutal. Harrowingly realistic and completely convincing, it is a dark, unforgettable memorial to every soldier whose innocence was lost in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam.

Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is a young, naive American who, upon his arrival in Vietnam, quickly discovers that he must do battle not only with the Viet Cong, but also with the gnawing fear, physical exhaustion and intense anger growing within him. While his two commanding officers (Oscar nominated Tom Berenger and William Dafoe) draw a fine line between the war the wage against the enemy and the one they fight with each other, the conflict, chaos and hatred permeate Taylor, suffocating his realities and numbing his feelings to man's highest value...life.

Customer Reviews

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Platoon is a cinematic classic from Director Olive stone. And is supposedly his auto-biography of his experiences in Vietnam as a G.I. The characters in this film are based on real-soldiers he met in his 'platoon' in Vietnam.

I'm highly recommending the Special Edition for a feature documentary on the 'making of platoon' which is the best feature I've ever seen on a DVD to date. It shows how Oliver Stone put the cast through hell and back whilst shooting in the jungle. Plenty of accounts from Charlie Sheen, a young Johnny Depp, and Elijah Woods on how much they grew to hate Oliver Stone, which is exactly what he wanted!. A must see.

A must own movie
I bought this movie for the plain and simple reason that its an absolute classic and should be in any movies collecters stack.
The cast is excellent and a near impossible feat nowadays. The soundtrack is a clear sign of the times and worth owning in its own right.
The graphic and emotional telling of the story of one new recruit sometimes makes for uncomfortable viewing, however without which would lose the horrors of the reality of the Vietnam war.
The battle of wills between the charecters set against an environment where death is a moment away is excellently narrated by the main charecters letters to home and is as gripping as the actual action sequences, which are extremely realistic and have you wondering on the actual point and methods used in war.
This is one the few movies that really changed the way movies are made and presented and as such is a must watch for any movie fan.

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To sum platoon up, it's a masterpiece. The spitting image of vietnam, from Oliver Stone who, himself fought in the war. It's an emotionally moving film and superbly put together with music which fits so perfectly into the film, it's as if the sole purpose of the songs was for this film.