platoon

[sublime]

watched this movie last night and am wondering if it is highly overrated. i understand it was made in the mid 80's, but the action scenes were pretty blah. especially the final battle, which looks like a dentists lobby (the awful looking plants) with strobe lights.

i am comparing this movie to some of the WW2 movies of the recent past (SPR, TTRL, the BoB series) and its almost comedic.

charlie sheens voice overs were lame (those of us who made it, must move on and build....? build what?) oliver stones cameo was idiotic. the films strongest attribute was the secondary characters IMO (keith david, dillon, whittaker, depp etc)

just a rant i suppose

[jakethebake]

yes.

[imported_The Vibesman]

I hate this film. But I hate all Oliver Stone films.

[IHateKeithSmart]

This is the first movie I remember seeing in a movie theater, so it has a special place for me. Probably need to rewatch, as it's been probably 5 years. I like it though. TTRL blows though, maybe I need to rewatch that as well.

[Action Scott]

Compare it to other action/war movies made then and it stands out.

[InchoateHand]

I agree with pretty much everything you said. Not a movie that lasted.

[miajag81]

It's definitely an above-average war film but, yes, the film and Oliver Stone are both overrated.

[sublime]

[ QUOTE ]
This is the first movie I remember seeing in a movie theater, so it has a special place for me. Probably need to rewatch, as it's been probably 5 years. I like it though. TTRL blows though, maybe I need to rewatch that as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

TTRL is for those who search for a deeper meaning i suppose, which is fine if thats what its intended for. i thought it was 'ok' as it doesnt try to be something it wasnt.

i saw SPR in the movies for my first time in a 'modern' theatre (if that doesnt make sense, i mean the ones with big ass seats top notch sound etc) and i wanted to cry after i left the movie.

[Boris]

I think you're right on target here. One factor that made it so cool when it first came out was that we (or at least me) were young and stupid.

[sublime]

[ QUOTE ]
Compare it to other action/war movies made then and it stands out.

[/ QUOTE ]

maybe in that time period, but compared to something like saving private ryan and its laughable in action/story/casting etc.

even compared to AN and its not really close. it had so much potential, but seemed to really go off the deep end after the village scene. that last battle was just AWFUL.

that's because you weren't in the [censored]. you can't relate.

[sublime]

[ QUOTE ]
I think you're right on target here. One factor that made it so cool when it first came out was that we (or at least me) were young and stupid.

[/ QUOTE ]

i wish somebody made a movie about vietnam that was modernized for our generation. BOTFOJ was a really good post war film, i wish something liek that was made for the war itself.

[sublime]

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that's because you weren't in the [censored]. you can't relate.

[/ QUOTE ]

in the 80's? or vietnam?

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
that's because you weren't in the [censored]. you can't relate.

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I've never been to Vietnam, and am not nearly old enough to have served there. But I have been "un the [censored]" in other places and that movie wasn't close in my opinion. Maybe other aspects of the movie were good, but that isn't combat.

[MonkeeMan]

cherries

[sublime]

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that's because you weren't in the [censored]. you can't relate.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never been to Vietnam, and am not nearly old enough to have served there. But I have been "un the [censored]" in other places and that movie wasn't close in my opinion. Maybe other aspects of the movie were good, but that isn't combat.

[/ QUOTE ]

it had the chance to develop some good camaraderie. like when sheen first went into the underground lair of the hopheads i could sense some growing care in my body but it was never built on. next thing you know, sheen is trying to act black with keith david and looking like a retard.

[TheBlueMonster]

it's good but not as good as the movies you mentioned (SPR etc)
I don't think it's overrated

i need to rewatch it, even though I've seen probably 10 times in my life. it might be a generational thing - those of us that saw it in the 80s loved it, while the younger, Saving Private Gump generation didn't.

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that's because you weren't in the [censored]. you can't relate.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never been to Vietnam, and am not nearly old enough to have served there. But I have been "un the [censored]" in other places and that movie wasn't close in my opinion. Maybe other aspects of the movie were good, but that isn't combat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which film would you say was the most realistic depiction of combat? Black Hawk Down was pretty powerful.

[Slacker13]

Platoon use to be one of my favorite war movies. Recently I watched it too and was wondering wht the hell i was so excited about.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Which film would you say was the most realistic depiction of combat? Black Hawk Down was pretty powerful.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought Blackhawk Down was much more realistic. The first time I watched it, I was tense the whole time and kind of bothered because I had trouble following the move and didn't know what all was going on. Then the next time I saw it, I realized that bothered me because it was close to how it felt. You don't know [censored] that's going on.

Seen in a vacuum, Platoon isn't a great movie. The cinematography isn't great, the screenplay doesn't break down into the traditional three act format, etc.

What makes it a great film is that it is an accurate but fictional depiction of the life of an infantryman in Vietnam. Stone's personal experiences give the film an authenticity we now take for granted in war movies. All of the equipment carried by the soldiers and their uniforms were correct. All the little things that happen to Sheen in the movie like falling asleep on the ambush, burning the shitters, etc. are things no Hollywood director would ever put in a movie. Unlike most war movies, Platoon is about the enlisted men who actually do the fighting, instead of officers.

I like Platoon not only because of what I saw on the screen, but also because of what I know about the story behind the film. In this way the movie is similar to Black Hawk Down. How many people would like BHD if they didn't know the true story behind the movie?

The assualt on the beach in Saving Private Ryan is an amazing and powerful example of the craft of filmmaking, but the movie as a whole seems somehow lacking to me. Platoon's impact on not only the movie-goers, but on the public as a whole at the time it was released make it one of the most important war movies ever made.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Seen in a vacuum, Platoon isn't a great movie. The cinematography isn't great, the screenplay doesn't break down into the traditional three act format, etc.

What makes it a great film is that it is an accurate but fictional depiction of the life of an infantryman in Vietnam. Stone's personal experiences give the film an authenticity we now take for granted in war movies. All of the equipment carried by the soldiers and their uniforms were correct. All the little things that happen to Sheen in the movie like falling asleep on the ambush, burning the shitters, etc. are things no Hollywood director would ever put in a movie. Unlike most war movies, Platoon is about the enlisted men who actually do the fighting, instead of officers.

I like Platoon not only because of what I saw on the screen, but also because of what I know about the story behind the film. In this way the movie is similar to Black Hawk Down. How many people would like BHD if they didn't know the true story behind the movie?

The assualt on the beach in Saving Private Ryan is an amazing and powerful example of the craft of filmmaking, but the movie as a whole seems somehow lacking to me. Platoon's impact on not only the movie-goers, but on the public as a whole at the time it was released make it one of the most important war movies ever made.

[/ QUOTE ]

FILMIE ALERT! FILMIE ALERT! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Blarg]

If you don't even mention Dafoe's name, or his death scene, something funky is going on.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
If you don't even mention Dafoe's name, or his death scene, something funky is going on.

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean the gayest death scene in a war movie ever?

[Blarg]

Agreed. Platoon's impact when it was released was huge. Charlie Sheen's limited acting ability coupled with Stone's favorite "two fathers" dramatic formula of the time to make for some clumsiness, but the movie did things others weren't interested in doing about a subject people wanted to either forget or rage about, but not talk about or learn anything from.

Its impact is a lot less now that we have kids a generation, some almost two generations removed from the war and from the all-important social context of that war. It's also less because, as you note, films built on the base of realism that Platoon provided, and we're now more used to the idea that war films can be about the little guys and the bad things on both sides and inside one side's officers and soldiers as much as any other's. Very few war films America has been created have had much realism in them or serious social criticism; quite the opposite, they've usually been apologists or propagandists for war. We used to be stuck with flicks like the awful Green Berets. Stone's film kicked some of the John Wayne ass out of the way.

[Blarg]

It's was a great death scene of a great character, and was very metaphoric and part of a larger metaphoric context. It wasn't just him that was dying, and it wasn't just one man that killed him. It blew everyone away in the theaters when it came out, and it's still good.

Of course, you can distance yourself from it, like people who never get the spooks at a horror movie or never laugh at a comedy. Up to you. The movie didn't win the oscars for no reason. It has its flaws, Charlie Sheen and its simplistic structure chief among them, but it's a good one.

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FILMIE ALERT! FILMIE ALERT!

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL. I'm not really a film-nazi, I just wanted to rant about why I voted for movies like Platoon and Hamburger Hill in the war movie polls over the more commercial stuff like Saving Private Ryan.

[rusellmj]

[ QUOTE ]


The assualt on the beach in Saving Private Ryan is an amazing and powerful example of the craft of filmmaking...

[/ QUOTE ]

Too over the top in places and I didn't like alot of this scenes cinematography.

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
FILMIE ALERT! FILMIE ALERT!

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL. I'm not really a film-nazi, I just wanted to rant about why I voted for movies like Platoon and Hamburger Hill in the war movie polls over the more commercial stuff like Saving Private Ryan.

[/ QUOTE ]

"not a film-nazi"...."more commercial"...

http://coloringbookfun.com/littlebear/images/duck.gif

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


The assualt on the beach in Saving Private Ryan is an amazing and powerful example of the craft of filmmaking...

[/ QUOTE ]

Too over the top in places and I didn't like alot of this scenes cinematography.

[/ QUOTE ]

I liked this sequence because it was over the top. I thought the sound fading in and out and the first person view made it immersive for the viewer.

[ QUOTE ]
"not a film-nazi"...."more commercial"...

[/ QUOTE ]

Commercial isn't really the right word, but I couldn't think of what else to put there. I can prove I'm not a film-nazi though, I watch Bloodsport whenever it's on TV.

[istewart]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews9/full-metal-jacket/full-metal-jacket-PDVD_00901.jpg

[MonkeeMan]

[ QUOTE ]
Seen in a vacuum, Platoon isn't a great movie. The cinematography isn't great, the screenplay doesn't break down into the traditional three act format, etc.

What makes it a great film is that it is an accurate but fictional depiction of the life of an infantryman in Vietnam. Stone's personal experiences give the film an authenticity we now take for granted in war movies. All of the equipment carried by the soldiers and their uniforms were correct. All the little things that happen to Sheen in the movie like falling asleep on the ambush, burning the shitters, etc. are things no Hollywood director would ever put in a movie. Unlike most war movies, Platoon is about the enlisted men who actually do the fighting, instead of officers.

I like Platoon not only because of what I saw on the screen, but also because of what I know about the story behind the film. In this way the movie is similar to Black Hawk Down. How many people would like BHD if they didn't know the true story behind the movie?

The assualt on the beach in Saving Private Ryan is an amazing and powerful example of the craft of filmmaking, but the movie as a whole seems somehow lacking to me. Platoon's impact on not only the movie-goers, but on the public as a whole at the time it was released make it one of the most important war movies ever made.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactamundo.

I have a similar view of the film. Let me quote myself from the Greatest War Movie of All Time - Elite Eight thread:

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You are totally wrong here. Totally. Of all the Nam flicks I've seen (not all of them, for sure, but over a dozen at least), Platoon is the closest to my experiences.

Wonder if any other Nam vets care to chime in?

[/ QUOTE ]

I was not in vietnam, but I've been to war. I'm specifically referring to combat scenes. Other films like Pvt. Ryan's opening scene or Blackhawk Down really put me on edge. Platoon did nothing like this to me. But I don't know specifically it was about Platoon that you found realistic.

[/ QUOTE ]

What put me on edge was the ambush scene, those damn dinks creeping up on you at night in the boonies.


The shiit burning detail. The shotgun shotgun. The bugs, those fackin bugs. The juicers and heads. The friendships. The recently deserted NVA base camp. The lifers. The fog.

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