Platoon

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Platoon

R

1986

2h 0m

War

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

89%

Tomatometer

122 Reviews

93%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he's on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), who believes nearby villagers are harboring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.

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Critics Consensus

Informed by director Oliver Stone's personal experiences in Vietnam, Platoon forgoes easy sermonizing in favor of a harrowing, ground-level view of war, bolstered by no-holds-barred performances from Charlie Sheen and Willem Dafoe.

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David Denby

New York Magazine/Vulture

08/23/2022

This is a great American movie -- easily the most powerful film of the year.

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Marsha McCreadie

Arizona Republic

08/23/2022

I didn't take a single note during the screening of Platoon: It's that engrossing, that overwhelming.

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Eleanor Ringel Cater

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

08/23/2022

It's a powerful, painful, must-see film -- an impassioned and riveting dispatch from the front that's at once a battle cry and a lamentation.

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Christopher Lloyd

The Film Yap

May 26

5/5

Oliver Stone's harrowing war picture was the first movie that felt like a genuine depiction of that terrible war, and brought collective catharsis for America's tragedy in Vietnam.

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Mark Johnson

Awards Daily

06/14/2023

One of the most visceral and authentic war films ever made.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

10/11/2022

3.5/4

Platoon may not be the best Vietnam war film ever made -- I still prefer both Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket by a healthy margin -- but I wouldn't care to argue with any veteran who states that it's the most honest depiction of that insane skirmish.

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Alejandro E

@Alex970 Feb 27

From the wonderful years of Oliver Stone. The Vietnam War from the perspective of a rookie soldier who was unprepared for a futile war is an exercise that hits like a sledgehammer. One of Mr Stone's essentials from the 1980s.

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Tom F

@RT55173143 Feb 25

The story is a bit clunkier than I remember from my original viewing when it came out, but the message of how war robs men of humanity remains a strong antidote to the desire to frame soldiers’ stories in a warm haze of patriotic nostalgia.

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Larry K

@Larrymoses39 Jan 15

Willem Dafoe is awesome. Insane war sequences

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shane o

@Shanes_DVD_Shack Dec 17

A harrrowing watch form beginning to end. Some scenes in this film will haunt me for life. It’s what I feel a realistic depictions of the horrors of war are.

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Jack F

@MovieFan111 Nov 19

I loved this movie. When you think "war movie", you think either Full Metal Jacket, or Platoon. That one part where he was dancing on one leg was sooo disturbing. You don't forget seeing that.

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Nicholas t

@nicktalbert2025 Oct 31

platoon is the greatest war movie ever made the movie is action packed lots of war drama action tears of joy best war movie best action bestdrama best actors best director great sound best bombs best scenes and best 80s movie ever made

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Oliver Stone

Director

Tom Berenger

Staff Sgt. Bob Barnes

Willem Dafoe

Sgt. Elias Grodin

Charlie Sheen

Pvt. Chris Taylor

Forest Whitaker

Big Harold

Francesco Quinn

Rhah

Platoon: Official Clip - Pecker Hard, Powder Dry

3:02

Platoon: Official Clip - Retribution

4:16

Platoon: Official Clip - I Am Reality

2:06

Platoon: Official Clip - The Death of Sgt. Elias

3:09

Platoon: Official Clip - Elias is Betrayed

2:09

Platoon: Official Clip - Burning the Village

3:05

Platoon: Official Clip - We're Gonna Lose This War

1:13

Platoon: Official Clip - Barnes Crosses the Line

2:40

Platoon: Official Clip - Hell Is the Impossibility of Reason

1:30

Platoon: Official Clip - Dance!

2:04

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Synopsis

Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he's on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), who believes nearby villagers are harboring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.

Director: Oliver Stone
Producer: Arnold Kopelson
Screenwriter: Oliver Stone
Distributor: Orion Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co: Hemdale Film Corporation [us]
Rating: R
Genre: War, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 19, 1986, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 2, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $138.5M
Runtime: 2h 0m
Sound Mix: Surround

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