Movie Review: 'Platoon'
In the 42 years since the end of the war in Vietnam, Hollywood has produced a number of films about that "lost crusade," ranging from the grand yet surreal vision of Apocalypse Now to the very commercial and silly Missing in Action and Rambo . In 1986, writer-director Oliver Stone ( JFK, W. ) took audiences into the frightening spectacle of jungle warfare in Platoon. This film, based on Stone's combat experiences in Vietnam circa 1967, is the story of 19-year-old Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), an upper-middle class type, who has volunteered for combat duty. His fellow GI's are from the slums and small towns of America. They're the ones with little more than two years of high school - poor, unwanted and drafted to fight for "our society and our freedom," as Chris says in a letter to his grandmother. Of course, the story of men in battle has been told before, and Vietnam War films all seem alike, with their helicopter assaults and seemingly endl...