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Platoon: Special Edition by Paul Jacobi 10.05.01 |
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In the late 1960’s, young Oliver Stone gave
up an upper class lifestyle, and enlisted in the United States Army.
Almost immediately, he was sent to Vietnam. Nearly 20 years after his tour
of duty, he made a movie based on his experiences. It ended up being
perhaps the greatest movie about war ever made, and won the 1986 Academy
Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. The film is “Platoon”. Earlier
this year, a new special edition of the film was released on DVD by MGM,
and they have created one of the best discs in the studio’s history.
The Movie: The film follows the path of young Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), barely over 18, and on his way to Vietnam. Upon his arrival, he’s thrust in a company with varied experience, and one that is torn between the attitudes of two Sergeants with opposing philosophies portrayed by Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe. Berenger’s Sgt. Barnes’ is a ruthless soldier, who runs the company from behind a puppet commander (Mark Moses). Sgt. Elias, portrayed by Dafoe, is a disillusioned soldier, who after 3 years of service, no longer believes in what he’s fighting for. As the movie progresses, the tension between the two escalates, and it’s soon apparent, there’s only room for one. Taylor’s regiment is comprised of a number of character actors including a young Johnny Depp, Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon, and John C. McGinley. They are excellent in the ensemble and represent the diversity of the troops sent there. They are men with only one thing in common, the war. This movie is about more than just personal experiences though. It’s about the brutality of war, and how it desensitizes man to the value of life. The fitting tagline to the movie is “The first casualty of war is innocence”. The movie explores the theme as Taylor grows from a naïve kid, into a more hardened, disillusioned, and at some points brutal man. The battles scenes have an especially chaotic tone, as Stone wanted to make them feel as realistic as possible. As a viewer, you feel as if you’re being spun in many different directions while watching and imagining just how brutal it must have been for those actually there. The film is a hard look at war, but one that provides a glimmer of hope that one can move past it in the future, as evidenced by Stone’s works. The Special Features: There is a wealth of wonderful features, which is fitting for a movie of this stature. There are two audio commentaries, one by Stone, and the other by Marine Captain Dale Dye. The Stone one, in my opinion is the better of the two as he focuses on his own experiences that inspired the movie. There are even times when he seems totally immersed in what he’s watching, which shows how personal the film was. The commentary by Capt. Dye is a more technical one that focuses on how the actors adapted to the roles and proper military procedure. It’s worth a listen if only to get his unique perspective on the things. As with “Salvador”, the crown jewel of this disc is a nearly one hour documentary entitled “Tour of the Inferno”. It features interviews with Stone, Dye, Sheen, Berenger, Dafoe, Depp, and more. There’s a ton of fascinating anecdotes given including how the actors were treated by rank on the set and had to go through a 13-day boot camp before shooting. There was no break between the camp and shooting, as to keep them in the right frame of mind. Upon a character’s death, the actor was sent home, again to keep the realistic tone of the film. There’s also an amusing tale of the party scene that takes place with Elias, Taylor, and some of the other soldiers. This is a fantastic documentary and should be required viewing. Rounding out the features are the original theatrical trailer, television spots, a photo gallery, and a nice 8 page collectable booklet. This is an excellent special edition package. The Technical Side: The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It is largely an excellent, clean transfer. The colors are vibrant. There are very few blemishes on the print, and seeing how the only previous copy I had was on VHS, the differences are like night and day. The sound is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and is generally very clean, but like “Salvador”, a bit underwhelming. Dialogue is never muffled and there are no real problems with the sound, but again, the movie was made in 1986, and the limitation of the equipment slightly hinders it. However, these qualms are slight and don’t in anyway detract from the enjoyment of watching the picture. The film is also presented in its original mono soundtrack, a French stereo surround track, a Spanish mono track, and has English, French, and Spanish subtitles. Conclusion: If it isn’t obvious enough after that review, I absolutely love this film. It is one of my top 5 films of all time and I feel it’s the Best War Movie Ever. The special edition DVD is absolutely fabulous. I consider this to be Stone’s best work and give the movie my Strongest and Highest Possible Recommendation! It is one of few DVDs that is an absolute must own for fans of great pieces of cinema. Next up: We go corporate is Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street”. |