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Platoon
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - Hong Kong - Deltamac Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (15th March 2011). |
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The Film
 Oliver Stone fought in Vietnam as a US Army soldier. He used his real-life experiences as the basis for his undeniable masterpiece "Platoon". It's quite possibly one of the best war films ever made and certainly one of the most important films examining the Vietnam War. Charlie Sheen plays Private First Class Chris Taylor, a young and naive American who volunteers to fight for his country in this devastating war. To fight for America's freedom, to fight for what he thinks is right, but what is truly right in Vietnam? After a few days in the ‘Nam he quickly discovers that the Viet Cong are not the only thing he must battle, he must wage a war against the fear, exhaustion, anger, contempt and chaos, all within himself. All the while his two commanding officers Staff Sgt. Bob Barnes (Tom Berenger) and Sgt. Elias Grodin (Willem Dafoe) divide the men's loyalty and draw an unmistakable line between the war they wage against the enemy and the one they fight with each other, the conflict, chaos and hatred permeate Taylor, suffocating his realities and numbing his feelings to man's highest value... life. Platoon takes a scathing, often vicious and graphic, look at the Vietnam War but goes further than most war films in that Stone takes the time to integrate themes of morality and contrast them with images of killing. The film follows the voiceover of Private Taylor through his first tour of duty. This voice is our voice of morality, but by no means is he our hero, the line separating good and evil are obscured in this opus. One of Stone's trademarks is taking the viewer down a dark place and setting us free to find our own way back, Taylor finds himself spiraling down the same path as others before him into the depths of what evil men do, he eventually finds his own way back. But is he the same person than when he first went in? Stone offers us a fascinating character study. "Platoon" serves almost as a historical document, but unlike other war films before this, "Platoon" set a new benchmark in theatrical realism, every aspect of this production is amazing. The performances are among the best these actors have done their entire career. The story and script are well conceived and executed (Stone also received an Oscar nomination for screenplay as well as winning Oscars for Best Picture and Director). The cinematography by Robert Richardson is naturalistic and captures the sights, colours and overall feel of the locations. Quite simply this is one tour-de-force production.
Video
"Platoon" is presented in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen in 1080p 24/fps and mastered in MPEG-2 compression on a 25GB disc. It seems that this transfer was minted from a source that's almost 5 years old, the last time this film was mastered was back in 2006 for the 20th Anniversary DVD release. Upon comparing that DVD to this Blu-ray I'm almost certain (just not 100%) that its minted from that transfer. The film could use a new transfer for Blu-ray and would be better presented on a 50GB disc. In saying that, and for the time being this image is pretty good. The film is now 25 years-old and the film stock used during the production of the film has its limitations compared to modern stock. This means you'll get a lot of shots that appear slightly softer and less detailed, especially in darker scenes. For the most part detail looks good, textures are nicely rendered, colors are a bit muted but keep in mind that vibrancy was not exactly on the cards when Stone and DP Richardson were shooting the film, they aimed for a gritty realism and that's what you get here. Blacks can be a bit murky and that's where the films stock's ages begins to show. Grain can be heavy but it's nice that DNR wasn't applied liberally, and the grain maintains the filmic look. There's some specks here and there but nothing that's too distracting. Overall it's a good transfer but there's some room for improvement.
Audio
Four audio tracks are included here in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit, English Dolby Digital 4.0 surround, French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-HD audio, up-mixed from the film's original audio elements this DTS-HD audio does a decent job of presenting the film's sound track however also lacks in certain areas. The sound is often subtle and makes use of the front speakers for the majority of the film. Dialogue is clear and distortion free, ambient sounds are limited to jungle surrounds and score, so surround activity isn't as active as one would like. The action scenes are more impacting but don't have enough grunt behind them, this is mostly due to the mixing at the time, soundtracks are much more complex now. Optional subtitles are included in English, Cantonese, Korean and Spanish.
Extras
The only extra featured on this Blu-ray release from MGM/Fox is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 1 minute 51 seconds. The disc also features some bonus trailers for: - "Harts War" which runs for 2 minutes 24 seconds. - "Home of the Brave" which runs for 2 minutes 26 seconds. - "Flyboys" which runs for 2 minutes 26 seconds.
Overall
"Platoon" is one of Oliver Stone's bests films, the wonderful narrative is masterfully executed and the graphic realism make for compelling viewing. This is a highly recommended film, it's currently only available in Hong Kong or Korea on Blu-ray, it's a worthy import unless you want to wait for a more elaborate Region A edition sometime in the future.
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