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Platoon- 5/10
There are somethings this film does very very well. Theres an eye for details that truly come from first hand experiences. Ants crawling up their clothes, heat strokes, snakes, leeches. These mundane parts of life in this foreign land. These moments the film feels genuine and authentic. These moments, however, are superficial. Very little else feels genuine or authentic. For a film thats a first hand account, dramatized of course, this film rarely rings true.
This feels as authentic as Predator or any of the Rambo sequels. And i think for that reason its not remembered in the same breathe as the great war film of this or any era.
Willam Dafoe is superb. There's many roles i could point to that established him as a top 50 actor and while this wouldnt rank among his very best he's still far and away the apex of the film.
Compare his performance to the lead, Charlie Sheen, who is as vapid here as he is in Major Leagues. Inauthentic. Uninspired. His lifeless voice overs wax poetic but are void of any real insights.
And thats the film as a whole. Insipid.
And how this won best editing is beyong me. Its completely disjointed.
Its not a terrible film, few major Hollywood films are less than 4s for example. Watch some truly bad art films and your standards for what a bad film is will quickly change... but it isnt a good one either.
It ranks nearly at the absolute bottom of all "classic" war films and I'll say, off the top of my head, its the worst film to win best picture that ive seen. It's a high budget B list 80s action film with an over-inflated sense of artistry.
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