Platoon (1986)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Informed by director Oliver Stone's personal experiences in Vietnam, Platoon forgoes easy sermonizing in favor of a harrowing, ground-level view of war, bolstered by no-holds-barred performances from Charlie Sheen and Willem Dafoe.
Platoon Videos
Platoon Photos
Movie Info
Watch it now
Cast
as Chris
as Sgt. Elias
as Sgt. Barnes
as Big Harold
as Rhah
as Sgt. O'Neill
as Sal
as Bunny
as Junior
as King
as Lerner
as Tex
as Lt. Wolfe
as Sal
as Rape Victim
as Crawford
as Manny
as Crawford
as Francis
as Terrified Soldier
as Gardner
as Warren
as Morehouse
as Sanderson
as Tony
as Doc
as Ace
as Capt. Harris
as Parker
as Village Chief
as Village Chief's Wife
as Flash
as Fu Sheng
as Village Chief's Daughter
as Rodriguez
as Old Woman
as Tubbs
as One-Legged Man
as Terrified Soldier
as Mechanized Soldier
as Mechanized Soldier
as Officer in Bunker
as Medic
News & Interviews for Platoon
Critic Reviews for Platoon
All Critics (60) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (53) | Rotten (7) | DVD (19)
This film is an act of courage. Stone, the gutsy writer-director, records in a devastating barrage of images the relentless horror and the senseless carnage experienced by far too many Americans in Vietnam.
Stone's strongest suit, however, isn't so much realism as it is his way of blending immediacy and insight.
There are images in Platoon so powerful that they seem, rather than simply imprinted on celluloid, to have been burned into memory.
Precisely because Stone forces you to experience a grunt's tunnel vision and rage, Platoon is a film of inspiring empathy and awesome force. Curiously, that same tunnelvision in the end compromises Platoon.
This is movie-making with a zealot's fervor.
Platoon is filled with one fine performance after another, and one can only wish that every person who saw the cartoonish war fantasy that was Rambo would buy a ticket to Platoon and bear witness to something closer to the truth.
Audience Reviews for Platoon
Platoon is the landmark definition of a war film. Pulse-pounding sequences stacked on well-performed portrayal of soldiers (Sheen, Berenger & Dafoe) as well as a couple of heart-wrenching scenes that would be somewhat difficult to view. The film is Oliver Stone's most significant to date, especially since it's based off his own personal experience in the Vietnam War. 4/5
Super Reviewer
A more human telling of the Vietnam experience than it's bleakly factual contemporary Full Metal Jacket, this film is almost scuppered by the gimmicky casting of Charlie Sheen in the lead role. The strong supporting cast make up for his obvious shortcomings as a serious actor, however. Watch out for a young Johnny Depp as Lerner.
Super Reviewer
REVIEW SOON..............
Super Reviewer
Platoon Quotes
| Sgt. Barnes: | I got no fight with any man who does what he's told, but when he don't, the machine breaks down. And when the machine breaks down, we break down. |
| Chris Taylor: | Hell is the impossibility of reason |
| Chris Taylor: | Hell is the impossibility of reason. |
| Chris Taylor: | She's a fucking human being, man! Fuck you! |
| Chris Taylor: | It was once said hell is the impossibility of reason,that's what this place feels like hell. |
| Chris Taylor: | Somebody once wrote: 'Hell is the impossibility of reason.' That's what this place feels like. Hell. |
Discussion Forum
Discuss Platoon on our Movie forum!