Saturday 13 March 2010

(500) Films of Empire - Day 178

210 - Platoon - 3 stars
The Vietnam war threatens to take newbie Charlie Sheen's soul but will it end up in the hands of pot-smoking, peace-loving Willem Dafoe or sadistic Tom Berenger. If you've seen the DVD cover then you've got a pretty good idea how it might end!
Seeing this so late on in my viewing life, it just becomes another war movie... is that a spoof waiting to happen? Oh no, that was Hot Shots Part Deux.
There is nothing here that makes it stand out from the Vietnam crowd, mainly due to Sheen's rather one-dimensional performance.
Fun can be had spotting familiar faces in a 'before they were famous' kind of way; like Johnny Depp, Dr Cox and Johnny Drama.
I love Adagio For Strings, and remember seeing the famous clip and love how it was used there, but on watching the whole film, I suddenly realise it becomes very overused and thus loses its impact.

For the record, my top 3 Vietnam films (at this moment) are:
1. Apocalypse Now
2. Casualties of War
3. The Deer Hunter

Days remaining - 187 Films remaining - 240

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