A few drinks in the garden last night managed to escalate into a trip to the uni nightclub. So in a hungover state today, I finished Platoon
Remember that epic dance track from Kevin and Perry Go Large that makes it feel like time is standing still? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzbHohFcmKQ see 2:05)Probably presumed it to be merely the product of an ecstasy-fuelled mix session in Ibiza? Well it's not, it comes from a 1980's war drama staring Charlie Sheen. Sheen plays Chris Taylor, a middle-class US soldier in the Vietnam War during the sixties, having dropped out of college to be there. The movie follows Sheen and his group of fellow soldiers on their operations around the country. However, Sheen is not the only friendly face within the platoon. Co-stars include Willem Dafoe, who I only recently encountered during my Best Picture quest in The English Patient (1996), John C. McGinley, known as Dr. Cox out of Scrubs, who is excellent in a very different role, Oscar-winning Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, 2006), and a young Johnny Depp, who I didn't actually recognise until I looked up who he played after I had watched the movie.
We go from the the soldiers spending their time off partying, smoking dope through the barrel of a gun, to the intense, with Dafoe climbing down into a pitch black enemy bunker alone, with no idea who or what is down there, to the tragic impact of the war on the lives of innocent Vietnamese civilians. And that's all within the first hour.
The treatment of civilians is an issue that generates a conflict of opinion between the two highest ranking officers. This causes a fierce rivalry that divides the members of the platoon, as they each choose sides, whilst still appearing to watch each others backs; "Don't drink that asshole, you're gonna get malaria."......"Yeah, I hope so." is the response.
As the rivalry builds, so does enemy conflict, giving this fantastic cast a chance to tell a thrilling story.
Rating: 9/11
