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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 3741
Released: June 5, 2001 |
| Our Price: $3.00 |
| Used Price: $1.88 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Winner* of 4 Academy AwardsÂ(r), including Best Picture, and based on the first-hand experience of OscarÂ(r)-winning** director Oliver Stone, Platoon is powerful, intense and starkly brutal. "Harrowingly realistic and completely convincing" (Leonard Maltin), it is "a dark, unforgettable memorial" (The Washington Post) to every soldier whose innocence was lost in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam. Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is a young, naive American who, upon his arrival in Vietnam, quickly discovers that he must do battle not only with the Viet Cong, but also with the gnawing fear, physical exhaustion and intense anger growing within him. While his two commanding officers (OscarÂ(r)-nominated*** Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe) draw a fine line between the war they wage against the enemy and the one they fight with each other, the conflict, chaos and hatred permeate Taylor, suffocating his realities and numbing his feelings to man's highest value life.
Description of Platoon (Special Edition):
Platoon put writer-turned-director Oliver Stone on the Hollywood map; it is still his most acclaimed and effective film, probably because it is based on Stone's firsthand experience as an American soldier in Vietnam. Chris (Charlie Sheen) is an infantryman whose loyalty is tested by two superior officers: Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), a former hippie humanist who really cares about his men (this was a few years before he played Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ), and Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), a moody, macho soldier who may have gone over to the dark side. The personalities of the two sergeants correspond to their combat drugs of choice--pot for Elias and booze for Barnes. Stone has become known for his sledgehammer visual style, but in this film it seems perfectly appropriate. His violent and disorienting images have a terrifying immediacy, a you-are-there quality that gives you a sense of how things may have felt to an infantryman in the jungles of Vietnam. Platoon won Oscars for best picture and director. --Jim Emerson
Platoon (Special Edition) Reviews:
Platoon 
2009-10-06 - This is my most favorite of any war movie I own on DVD. Director Oliver Stone, an actual Vietnam veteran, directed a very surreal and moving film here. 'Platoon' has a dramatically-gripping plot that is filled with emotion, anger, and suspense. The combat scenes are very realistic. The scene where the platoon enters the village of farmers is heart-wrenching and quite disturbing: 'Platoon' is not a film for the faint hearted. The music (score) was perfect for this Oscar-winning war movie. All of the actors, especially Charlee Sheen, Willem Dafoe, and Tom Berenger, delivered outstanding performances. Obviously the reason this film is so good is, besides the fact that he is a good director, Oliver Stone was actually a soldier in Vietnam. So he was able to put what he saw and experienced in that terrible war into this breathtaking film. If you want to watch a very good war film that will have you speechless after your done watching it, I recommend you buy 'Platoon' even if you haven't seen it. It will not dissapoint! After all, it is a war movie classic. Yes, it is a little old. But, you will learn a lot about what it was like for American soldiers in the Vietnam War by watching it.
america's critic
2009-09-12 - ha war war war!!! wahts more great acting good story platoon was and is a great movie to watch!!!
Tragedy in Vietnam 
2009-08-26 - The video protrays the deep seated frustration of Army troops serving in Vietnam revealed by the numerous fighting among ourselves. The ending thought accurately depicts the movie when the leading character states to the effect,that the enemy was more ourselves than the North Vietnamese.
Best movie of all times!
2009-07-11 - I think Platoon is the greatest movie of all times. Makes you think about what's really important in life. Very philosophical. And the music is just awesome. The whole movie can be summed up in Taylor's words at the end: "The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, just as Barnes and Elias, fighting, over what Rhah called, the possession of my soul".
Great movie!
"Rejoice, O Young Man in Thy Youth".
2009-05-25 - I'll tell you right now that when it comes to war movies, Oliver Stone doesn't joke around. Out of all the movies i've seen of his, W., JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, this one is the best, and overall the darkest as well. The acting is successful, although no oscar winning performances were given out. Nothing but oscar nominations were given out to the perfomances by Willem Dafoe, and Tom Berenger. Great acting, intense music score by The Era, and great set direction. Detailed and shown dramatically, ever moment of this movie is intense.
