Platoon (1986)

Every time Charlie Sheen reads a letter to his grandmother in voiceover, Platoon gets a little weaker, because the pictures already said it. That’s the one real flaw. The rest hits like heat coming off a jungle trail. Oliver Stone was there himself, and you feel it in the small stuff: the ants, the exhaustion, the guys counting days, the way nobody knows where anybody is at night. Willem Dafoe’s Elias and Tom Berenger’s Barnes pull the platoon in two directions, and both performances are frighteningly good. Keith David and Forest Whitaker bring warmth to a place that doesn’t have much. The village scene is hard to watch, and it should be. It made $138.5 million domestic on a reported $6M budget, which is wild for a movie this unflinching. An 8.7 because it’s honest about how war breaks people and never turns that into a thrill ride. $1,956 says that slow string piece from the score follows you around quietly for the rest of the night.

What works: Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger as two sergeants at war with each other, and a grounded, exhausted sense of what combat felt like.

What doesn’t: Chris’s voiceover letters spell out themes the images already make clear, and they flatten some of the film’s power.

Who it’s for: Adults and older teens who want a serious, unglamorous war film and are ready for some very hard scenes.