Review – Platoon

Yet again the hapless nation of Vietnam serves as the backdrop for American men battling with their inner demons. Director Oliver Stone serves up a heavy-handed allegory in which a good sergeant (Willem DaFoe) and an evil sergeant (Tom Berenger) battle for control of an infantry platoon and by proxy for the soul of a young newcomer (Charlie Sheen). Though a solid example of the war film genre and probably the most watchable of Stone’s Vietnam-themed movies, the preachiness and ultra-macho “I wuz there” attitude copped by the production makes it more than a little tedious in parts. Mildly amusing