Critic Reviews
Platoon (1986) Rank 5 Reviews
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based on (84) reviews
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David Landers
The story is told from the eyes of Chris, an educated, wealthy college drop-out played by Charlie Sheen in a role similar to his father's role in APOCALYPSE NOW nearly a decade earlier. Chris feels that it is his duty to serve his country in the ...read the complete Platoon movie review at David Landers
DVD Talk (Phil Bacharach)
The third time this extraordinary film has been brought to DVD, Platoon finally gets the stellar treatment it deserves. Brilliantly directed, beautifully acted, thought-provoking and poignant, and with a slew of extras that actually enhance viewers' ...read the complete Platoon movie review at DVD Talk (Phil Bacharach)
Oscar Guy (Wesley Lovell)
A terrific film from a filmmaker long absent from his art, Platoon is a frightening and challenging look into the battlefield operations of Vietnam. ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Oscar Guy (Wesley Lovell)
New York Times (Vincent Canby)
Possibly the best work of any kind about the Vietnam War since Michael Herr's vigorous and hallucinatory book ' Dispatches . ...read the complete Platoon movie review at New York Times (Vincent Canby)
filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
Like no other movie could tell, Platoon shows us categorically that war -- and especially the Vietnam War -- is hell.
The story is vintage Oliver Stone -- based on his own experiences in the bush with only a few moments of fictionalization. In ...read the complete Platoon movie review at filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
digitallyOBSESSED.com (Kevin Clemons)
It is this reviewer's opinion that truer words are very rarely spoken. Even though war has never seemed fun in my eyes, I strongly believe that Hollywood has a tendency to glorify the matter. And while Platoon was not the first anti-war movie to come ...read the complete Platoon movie review at digitallyOBSESSED.com (Kevin Clemons)
DVDActive (Casimir Harlow)
Platoon is an adrenaline-packed, harrowing tale of some of the most shocking and explosive battles fought within Stone’s experience of Vietnam. With resoundingly good performances from an excellent cast and some of the most memorable sequences in movie h ...read the complete Platoon movie review at DVDActive (Casimir Harlow)
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Francois Truffaut who said that it's not possible to make an anti-war movie, because all war movies, with their energy and sense of adventure, end up making combat look like fun. If Truffaut had lived to see "Platoon," the best film of 1986, he might ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Arizona Daily Star (Phil Villarreal)
Most war films adhere to a big-picture purview, explaining which battles meant what and fulfilled which strategic objectives. Stone's effort skirts all that in favor of wrapping the viewer in visceral detail. ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Arizona Daily Star (Phil Villarreal)
eFilmCritic.com (--)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Philip Martin)
... excellent ... elegiac and poetry-stuffed ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Philip Martin)
Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
Oliver Stone's impression of the Vietnam War, taken from when he observed it first-hand as a grunt. ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
The first thing Taylor sees as his transport plane lands in Vietnam are all the body bags and the disheartened looks of the soldiers leaving to go back home. It is 1967. His unit will be somewhere near the Cambodian border, in the jungle, where just ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
TV Guide Entertainment Network, Movie Guide
Chris (Charlie Sheen), a green recruit and child of privilege who dropped out of college and enlisted, finds himself in Vietnam as a member of a platoon divided against itself. On one side is Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berenger), a horribly scarred veteran ...read the complete Platoon movie review at TV Guide Entertainment Network, Movie Guide
Empire Magazine [UK]
Oliver Stone's war classic is overlooked sometimes because of it's brutal but long-winded potrayal of the duality of man. This however remains gripping stuff. ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Empire Magazine [UK]
UpcomingDiscs.com (Ryan Keefer)
There are a good number of people who have labeled Oliver Stone as a fan of conspiracy theories, out to destroy foundations of conservative ideology, while at the same time re-visiting 60’s nostalgic icons. Despite the jokes and the stereotyping, one ...read the complete Platoon movie review at UpcomingDiscs.com (Ryan Keefer)
Movie Reviews UK
A stark, brutal, first-person account of the hell that was Vietnam, Platoon presents the extremes engendered by such a conflict and no easy answers. Transported into the humidity of Vietnam, rookie soldier Chris's (Charlie Sheen) first sight is a pile ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Movie Reviews UK
Movies for Guys
The DVD seems like it was just tossed together in order to get it on the shelves of your local video store. It's quite bare-bones, with the only "extra" being a trailer for the ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Movies for Guys
Movie Gazette (Gary Panton)
Not for Nam-by pambies ("Nam", geddit? As in VietNAM, you see? No? Oh, just forget it). ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Movie Gazette (Gary Panton)
Appreciating Great Trash
Movies for Guys DVD Review
DVD Clinic ("Dr. Drew")
A naïve young American (Charlie Sheen) enlists in the army in order to help fight the war in Vietnam. While he dreams of glory and honor for his country, his life soon becomes a walking nightmare as he’s forced to adjust to the horrors and evils of ...read the complete Platoon movie review at DVD Clinic ("Dr. Drew")
DVDLard - Region 2 DVD Review
The film opens with the arrival of a plane full of new young troops including Private Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) into Vietnam. As the troops get off the plane the first sight their confronted with is body bags being loaded back on to it and the harsh ...read the complete Platoon movie review at DVDLard - Region 2 DVD Review
Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
Despite the omnipresence of Vietnam in the American household via television throughout
the late 1960s and early 1970s, the motion picture industry wouldn't deal directly with the
unpopular war, standing in stark contrast ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
filmcritic.com joins Platoon
DVDTown.com (John J. Puccio)
...remains Stone's most capable and most genuine film to date. ...read the complete Platoon movie review at DVDTown.com (John J. Puccio)
At-A-Glance Film Reviews (--)
EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)
Mixing realistic reportage of combat with more conventional morality play (the narrative strategy of all his films), Stone employs the two sergeants (Berenger and Dafoe) as realistic soldiers as well as broader symbols of Good and Evil. ...read the complete Platoon movie review at EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)
TV Guide's Movie Guide (--)
Never before in a war film has stark terror among soldiers been such a tangible, motivating force. ...read the complete Platoon movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (--)
Jacksonville Film Journal (Chuck Dowling)
I think now, looking back at Platoon, its easy to see how influential the film was... ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Jacksonville Film Journal (Chuck Dowling)
The Flick Filosopher's take
Movie Habit (Marty Mapes)
Fans of Platoon will want to get the DVD for the widescreen presentation, for the picture quality, and possibly for the booklet, but not for any special features. ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Movie Habit (Marty Mapes)
Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
a pained portrait of men driven to the brink of existence for reasons that no one could ever quite explain ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
Andrew Hicks (Andrew Hicks)
Zap2it.com (Michael Szymanski)
One of the greatest war films of all time, Oliver Stone shows the intense comraderie as well as the major horrors of war. Charlie Sheen is in is greatest role ever ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Zap2it.com (Michael Szymanski)
A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
DVD Authority.com ("Fusion3600")
IndependentCritics.com (Jacob Hall)
DVD Authority.com ("Fusion3600")
A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
"Platoon" is director Oliver Stone's well-done look at the horrors of the Vietnam war through the eyes of a young recruit named Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen). Stone (who served in the Vietnam war) both wrote and directed the film, and although some of the ...read the complete Platoon movie review at A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
The Rewind Forums - DVD Review
WhatDVD 20th Anniversary Edition review
Worldwide DVD Forums - DVD Review
DVD Town (James Plath)
Almost Fabulous Movie Reviews
digitallyOBSESSED.com (Dan Heaton)
DVD MovieGuide
DVD Verdict (Ryan Keefer)
digitallyOBSESSED.com (Nate Meyers)
BBC Films (Almar Haflidason)
DVD MovieGuide
DVD MovieGuide
DVD Town (John J. Puccio)
DVDTown (John J. Puccio)
Time Out
Stone's Vietnam film is a savage yet moving account of a 19-year-old's baptism under fire: clambering out of a transport plane, Sheen is soon plunged into the bloody chaos of combat. The use of his letters home as a commentary establishes personal ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Time Out
Kamera.co.uk (--)
Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) begins with a symbol of birth: the young soldier, Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), is delivered from the womb of a large transport plane into the harsh light of Vietnam. One of the first images he sees are those of body bags, ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Kamera.co.uk (--)
Light Views, Reviews & Previews (John Larsen)
Reel.com DVD review (Rod Armstrong)
The Dual Lens (Todd Wardrope)
Teen Movie Critic (Roger Davidson)
Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
Our fascination with war movies springs from the perennial question: What is it like? And other questions follow: What is it like to be in combat? To know that you may be killed at any moment? To kill other human beings? To lie under harrowing ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
Washington Post (Paul Attanasio)
Friday & Saturday Review
DVD Net (Gavin Turner)
Washington Post (Rita Kempley)
Movie-Vault.com (Avril Carruthers)
The Flick Filosopher (MaryAnn Johanson)
homevideo.about.com (Ivana Redwine)
Edinburgh U Film Society (Neil Chue Hong)
Boxoffice Magazine
Boxoffice Magazine
Chicago Reader (Pat Graham)
Oliver Stone's fictionalized memoir of the Vietnam war (1986) attempts to re-create, as viscerally as possible, the harrowing realities of combat--blood and guts and traumatized emotions splayed out like freshly exploded corpses in a minefield. He makes ...read the complete Platoon movie review at Chicago Reader (Pat Graham)
The New Yorker (Pauline Kael)
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