Movie #100 - Platoon

"The first casualty of war is innocence."

This movie was made during a time in the 80's when making movies about the Vietnam War was commonplace. There are other movies that look at this war, such as Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Bat 21, Born on the Fourth of July, The Killing Fields, The Deer Hunter, and Casualties of War. More recently, there are films like We Were Soldiers and ForrestGump that look at different aspects of the war itself.

I am a big fan of The Deer Hunter as this film is in my top 20 movies list, however, Platoon is probably Oliver Stone's best film as it is a loose biopic of his personal experience in Vietnam. The movie follows Charlie Sheen's character as he goes through his tour of duty in the war. During his time, we meet other characters portrayed by solid performances from the likes of TomBerenger, Willem Dafoe, Forrest Whitaker, and Johnny Depp . Based on these names alone, you wouldn't be able to make a movie of this magnitude anymore unless you had a big budget. However, you must also take into account thatDepp and Whitaker were still relative unknowns and had minor support roles in this film.

Charlie Sheen's character goes through the trials and tribulations of what the Vietnam War experience is like as told through Oliver Stone. Although his portrayal is dark, saddened, and filled with iconic scenes that impact the movie viewer, it is quite frank and provides a stark look at what life was like for the soldiers over there.

I would've liked to see more character development amongst the various actors that appear in this film... (*Note: spoiler alert) the biggest conflict developed through the movie is the rivalry between Dafoe and Berenger - which is culminated by Dafoe's memorable death scene at the end of the movie.

For those who have yet to see this movie - it is definitely one to watch, however, Deer Hunter is still probably the best movie to be made for the Vietnam War... not because of the action sequences or the storyline itself, but it is a movie contrasting ChristopherWalken with Robert De Niro in their prime - enough said!

*Note: As a bonus - I have finally reached 100 movie reviews. Starting with movie review #100, I will also be providing a trailer of the movie through You Tube. Hopefully, this will entice readers to watch this film. As previously mentioned, I will continue reviewing the Best Picture winners from 1980-2008, however, I will only review those films that I have seen at this point - there are about five or six films that I have yet to watch... I'm working on it. EM