I feel I made the right choice in watching Platoon during this past Memorial Day.  I did not have a specific reaction to it this time out, having seen it many times, but something just felt right.  Regardless, what can I say that’s new about a film widely regarded as one of the best Vietnam War movies ever; let alone one of director Oliver Stone’s best films?  Not much, I would think, but I will try my best.  Featuring a superb cast, a great level of intensely cinematic filmmaking, and an honest regard for what it was like to be in an unpopular and confusing war (at least as far as Stone, who is a Vietnam War Vet is concerned), Platoon is a fantastic story told through the eyes of a pre-winning Charlie Sheen.

Set in 1967, the film begins with young American Chris Taylor (Sheen) arriving in Vietnam, somewhere near the Cambodian border.  While many were drafted, Taylor actually dropped out of college and volunteered to serve in combat.  As he first begins his tour of duty, Taylor quickly becomes integrated into the thick of it, as he deals with the harsh physical conditions that extend to other things beyond the thrilling nature of actual combat, such as mud, rain, and bugs.  Taylor soon comes to understand the two main figures that will be guiding the troops he is fighting with.  One is the harsh Staff Sergeant, Barnes (Tom Berenger), who appears to be hardened and all for the greater good.  The other is noble and compassionate Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), who becomes a mentor to Taylor.  As his tour continues, Taylor adjusts to his role in this war, which leads him to confront situations that are intense, revealing, saddening, and game changing as far as the shaping of his outlook on life is concerned.

The film also features a large list of supporting actors, which includes: Forest Whitaker, Johnny Depp, John C. McGinley, Kevin Dillon, Keith David, Francesco Quinn, Tony Todd, and more.  While not everyone may be as important as the other, it certainly lends a strong quality to the film that better provides for establishing a feeling of soldiers all being a part of the same group, stuck in the same situation.  As a whole, the film certainly uses these characters to portray the Vietnam War as a riveting and starkly brutal tale concerning American soldiers.

For people that haven’t seen Platoon, this movie is fantastic and should be something watched right away.  It has practically all that would be wanted in a war film, including action, thrills, intense drama, and even a few comedic beats to keep us with these characters.  Best of all, you get to see a lot of talented individuals working at the top of their game.  Oliver Stone’s direction in this film is incredibly well handled.  He creates a film that easily balances an ensemble cast of characters, while keeping the narrative intriguing and moving.  There is an intense cinematic quality to the feature as well, which allows for a lot of memorable moments thanks to the use of cinematography as well as the iconic music for the film.

The actors are all strong here as well.  Sheen makes for a decent lead, even though I have always had trouble with his narration.  That said, he allows us to witness the other characters, who all provide lots of memorable aspects of the film and quotable lines.  In particular, I want to single out Willem Dafoe, who has become my favorite character of this film, as well as one of my favorite movie characters in general.  Dafoe does great work in his role as Elias, of course providing one of the film’s most iconic scenes.  And I’ll say it; Berenger is pretty bad ass as well.

Platoon is a great film.  I don’t feel I need to go deeper than I have, since so many more qualified individuals have written tons about what this film has had to offer over the years since its release back in 1986, which was met with wide acclaim and four Oscars, including a Best Picture win.  One final thought I do have is how quick the ride of this film seems to be.  While other (equally good) Vietnam War films have lengthier run times, Platoon clocks in at two hours, and rarely lets up in being a wonderfully entertaining feature.  It is a great aspect in a marvelously realized film.

This Blu-ray release brings Platoon into the realm of high definition, and while that is exciting and the transfer is mostly good, there is an inconsistent aspect that only knocks things down slightly.  This is certainly a 1080p transfer, which goes a long way in bringing a lot of the details out into the open.  Elements such as the features on soldiers’ uniforms and helmets are brought out more, face paint is cleaner to look at, and the jungles of Vietnam have a nice look to them.  Still, there is also a large amount of grain present in many scenes.  Now obviously this film was made in a specific way and during a specific time period, which justifies the amount of grime being shown and the graininess of some of the imagery; however, there appears to be a lot done to some scenes that show the marks of improvement, while other scenes do not benefit as much from the transfer.  Still, I would mostly praise the picture quality for Platoon.

Unfortunately, I cannot go higher on the audio score, which is a shame for such a great war film, that features a soundtrack dominated by sound effects and deliberate music choices.  Despite the DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack, which would suggest something much better, Platoon suffers from an audio track that has not been balanced to perfection.  Whether it is the atmospheric sounds, the dialogue, or the action (which does not do nearly enough justice to the sounds of the high powered rifles being fired), there was a lot of this film that felt too poorly handled to really dig into favorably from an audio standpoint.  That said, I could register enough properly to not feel too slighted by the disc’s unfortunate lack of a higher quality soundtrack, but it is unfortunate that it is not much better.

On the surface it would seem like there is a bevy of bonus content present on this disc, which should have anyone excited, however, I believe all of these features were previously available on the DVD special edition of Platoon, and worse, all of them are presented in standard definition, which always gets to me.

The special features include:

-Audio Commentary by Director Oliver Stone – Recommend

-Audio Commentary by Military Advisor Dale Dye – Also Recommend

-Deleted and Extended Scenes with Optional Commentary by Oliver Stone

–Flashback to Platoon, a three-part feature that includes Snapshot in Time: 1967-1968; Creating the ‘Nam; and Raw Wounds: The Legacy of Platoon

-Documentaries: One War, Many Stories; Preparing for ‘Nam

-Vignettes: Caputo &” the 7^th Fleet; Dye Training Method; Gordon Gekko

-Theatrical Trailer and TV Spots

-DVD Copy of the film

Having Platoon on Blu-ray is a very good thing. Make no mistake, despite the flaws that mostly stem from a poorer audio track than one would hope for, this film is now in high definition and can be appreciated as such.  There are also certainly worthwhile special features to delve into as well, despite their presentation, for those who have not seen them before.  Still, everything does come down to the quality of the film you are watching, for the most part, and Platoon does qualify as one of the greats and certainly a film that deserves to be seen in this format.