--- title: "Platoon" year: 1986 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/platoon" fi1m_id: "platoon" imdb_id: "tt0091763" tmdb_id: 792 wikidata_id: "Q190643" fi1m_score: 84 critics_score: 83 critics_reviews: 9 published: "2026-09-15" updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:35.962947+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Platoon (1986) Directed by Oliver Stone · 2h 00m · MPA R · Drama, War, Action ## Identity Platoon - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/platoon - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** platoon - **IMDb ID:** tt0091763 - **TMDB ID:** 792 - **Wikidata ID:** Q190643 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091763/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/792, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q190643 **Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 83 from 9 reviews *In a sentence:* Nobody should have to choose a father figure during a firefight > Oliver Stone’s *Platoon* makes combat frighteningly immediate, with performances that give the soldiers lives beyond their uniforms. We recommend it, despite a moral struggle between the sergeants that Stone makes too tidy. ## Synopsis Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is a young infantryman entering the war in Vietnam. Within his platoon, he comes under the influence of two sergeants: Elias (Willem Dafoe) and Barnes (Tom Berenger). As Taylor encounters combat, their conflict becomes part of his education in how the men around him behave under pressure. The soldiers face heat, mud and fear, while divisions within their own ranks complicate the business of getting through each day. Oliver Stone writes and directs a war drama that follows Taylor’s experience among men whose authority he must learn to judge. ## Review Oliver Stone’s *Platoon* is a forceful, frightening war film that we recommend despite its rather tidy division of good and bad influence. Charlie Sheen plays Chris Taylor, a young infantryman in Vietnam whose education comes partly from the conflict between two sergeants. Stone keeps the immediate demands of soldiering in view, along with the heat, muck and fear. Before Taylor can decide what sort of man to become, he has to cope with being there. Sheen’s uncertainty gives the film a useful centre. He lets the other men make the stronger impression, which is right for a story about a recruit trying to understand the people who have authority over him. Willem Dafoe’s Elias and Tom Berenger’s Barnes are persuasive enough to make their competing influence credible. Berenger is especially effective at making authority frightening without making it difficult to understand why a soldier might submit to it. Robert Richardson photographs the soldiers at ground level, making the heat and muck feel hard to escape. His images can be overwhelming, but they keep our attention on the men struggling through those conditions. Bruno Rubeo’s production design contributes to the same exhausting sense of daily life, with surroundings that look punishing to inhabit. It is important that the film takes physical discomfort seriously, because the men’s decisions are made when patience and judgement are already under strain. Claire Simpson’s editing is especially good in the night battles, giving us enough information to follow the fighting without making it feel orderly. We were frightened by those sequences. Being able to grasp the soldiers’ immediate danger, while still feeling their confusion, made the violence harder to sit through. This is difficult action to cut well: too little clarity would let us retreat into bewilderment, while too much would make the men seem in control. Simpson gets the balance right. The trouble comes when Stone the writer presses the sergeants into a moral contest whose terms are too easy to recognise. Dafoe and Berenger give us people worth watching, but the writing keeps encouraging us to sort them into opposing positions. That reduces the uncertainty the combat scenes have worked hard to create. Georges Delerue’s music adds to the sorrow, sometimes more insistently than the performances need. With Stone also leaning towards reflective explanation, the film can seem unwilling to leave a painful impression alone. The other soldiers help prevent that scheme from taking over. Keith David as King and John C. McGinley as Sergeant O’Neill make their presence count without needing to compete with the leads. The platoon feels populated by men with different temperaments, and that keeps us attentive to more than Taylor’s education. By the standards of a combat drama, the attention paid to people between confrontations is one of the film’s considerable strengths. At 120 minutes, it is a demanding evening, though the demand mostly comes from what Stone makes us face. The moral signposting is a real limitation, not a reason to avoid the film. We would choose it for the performances and the clear, frightening account of combat. Allow a little quiet afterwards; it is poor preparation for cheerful conversation. *Fi1m score 84, published 15 September 2026.* ## What the critics say With only 5 reviews in so far, most critics find Platoon a powerful, disturbing account of combat, with praise clustering around its immediacy, vivid soldiers and forceful images. The editing also earns credit for making nighttime battles clear without softening their terror. Reservations concern the storytelling rather than the production: Empire finds the moral struggle heavy-handed, though still gripping, while Variety argues that brutal immediacy and reflective hindsight weaken each other. The response ranges from enthusiastic praise to qualified approval, with Variety notably cooler about how fully the film’s effective scenes work together. ## Straight answers **Is Platoon worth watching?** *Platoon* is worth watching for anyone prepared for a frightening, physically punishing account of combat in Vietnam, and we scored it 84. The night battles, cut by Claire Simpson, are the strongest reason to see it, alongside Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe as the rival sergeants. Our reservation is that Oliver Stone's script sorts those two men into good and bad too neatly. **How long is Platoon, and what is it rated?** *Platoon* runs 2h 00m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and war film. **Where can I watch Platoon in the US?** *Platoon* is streaming on Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from $3.99. It leaves The Roku Channel on 1 October. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Platoon, and is it suitable for children?** *Platoon* carries a UK 15 certificate and is not suitable for children. Its night battles are frightening rather than exciting, with violence the film makes hard to sit through, and the men live in heat, mud and constant fear. Older teenagers who can take a sombre war drama will manage; the squeamish should expect to look away. **How does Platoon compare to The Battle of Algiers?** *Platoon* is the more personal film, following one recruit's education among the men who have authority over him, while [*The Battle of Algiers*](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers) widens ground-level conflict into a sharper study of occupation, resistance and civilian suffering. Pontecorvo's documentary style keeps the violence close but spends less time with individuals; Stone gives his soldiers fuller lives but signposts his moral argument. We rate the earlier film the more rigorous of the two. **What should I watch after Platoon?** After *Platoon*, try [*The Big Red One*](https://film.one/film/the-big-red-one) (1980, Fi1m 82): Another infantryman’s war, with exhaustion and experience shaping the soldiers’ daily decisions. Then [*The Ascent*](https://film.one/film/the-ascent) (1977, Fi1m 88): For a harsher moral ordeal, with soldiers pushed beyond endurance in the snow; and [*The Battle of Algiers*](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers) (1966, Fi1m 93): Ground-level conflict widens into a sharper examination of occupation, resistance and civilian suffering. ### Reviews we read (9) - **Radio Times**, Adrian Turner (5/5): The critic calls it a modern classic and personal exorcism for the director, who actually served in Vietnam. It highlights the authentic, messy tour of duty and the internal conflict between two sergeants fighting for the soul of the rookie soldier. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-266ti5/platoon/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (4/4): Ebert calls Platoon the best film of 1986 for its ground-level, infantryman's view of combat that avoids making war look exciting or heroic. He singles out the disorienting battle scenes that convey constant danger and moral confusion without clear lines or choreography. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/platoon-1986) - **Slant Magazine**, Chris Cabin (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Platoon as Stone’s masterwork and a deeply personal, accurate depiction of the Vietnam War that stands out for its environmental realism, philosophical depth, and experiential treatment of combat and morality. They highlight the film’s nuanced portrayal of opposing soldier archetypes (Barnes and Elias), its ambitious ensemble scope, and its lasting power to convey the brutality and moral ambiguity of war. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/platoon/) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (Critic’s Pick): The critic calls it possibly the best work of any kind about the Vietnam War since Dispatches, praising its vivid, terse and exceptionally moving portrayal of the infantryman's immediate experience at ground level. He highlights how it stands apart from other Vietnam films by focusing on raw reality in heat, muck and fear rather than myth or revisionism. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/19/movies/film-the-vietnam-war-in-stone-s-platoon.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Sheila Benson (85/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's frightening immediacy, placing viewers directly into the soldiers' boots with no preamble for a ground-zero view of war unlike any crane-shot predecessors. She singles out the vivid, immediate characterizations of the platoon members and exceptional editing that clarifies nighttime battles. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-19-ca-3663-story.html) - **Time Out**, NF (85/100, inferred): The review describes it as a savage yet moving account of a young soldier's baptism under fire, centering personal experience while touching on broader political divisions within the platoon. It praises the eye-blistering images for their awesome power that disturbs the mind. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/platoon) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (75/100, inferred): The review finds Oliver Stone's autobiographical Vietnam film still a seriously affecting and powerful work, particularly strong on the nightmarish aspects of war such as a simple misunderstanding turning instantly into a massacre. It notes that the film impresses less than more surreal Vietnam pictures but remains gripping despite a heavy Faustian scenario. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/platoon-review/) - **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (65/100, inferred): The critic describes it as an intense but artistically distanced study that immerses the audience in the nightmare of the war through effective scenes, while noting that dual impulses toward brutal immediacy and reflective hindsight dilute its power. He acknowledges plenty of good work and an impressive production that grabs the viewer. [Read](https://variety.com/1986/film/reviews/platoon-1200427020/) - **The New Yorker**, Pauline Kael (60/100, inferred): Kael finds Platoon powerful in its depiction of soldiers' frustration, revenge fever, and shame during village scenes, but overall overwrought and inflated as autobiographical work. She singles out the initial disorientation and small-talk sequences for having dramatic life, while criticizing the narration and major characters as weak. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1987/01/12/little-shocks-big-shocks) ## Details - **Director:** Oliver Stone - **Director:** Oliver Stone - **Writer:** Oliver Stone - **Cinematography:** Robert Richardson - **Editor:** Claire Simpson - **Music:** Georges Delerue - **Production design:** Bruno Rubeo - **Producer:** Arnold Kopelson - **Cast:** Charlie Sheen as Chris Taylor; Willem Dafoe as Sergeant Elias Grodin; Tom Berenger as Sergeant Robert "Bob" Barnes; Kevin Dillon as Bunny; Forest Whitaker as Big Harold; Mark Moses as Lieutenant Wolfe; Keith David as King; Richard Edson as Sal - **Runtime:** 2h 00m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 6 February 1987 - **Genres:** Drama, War, Action - **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Winner, 1986); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Winner, 1986) - **Budget:** $6 million - **Box office:** $139 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8weLPF4qBQ ## Where to watch in the US - Pluto TV: free - The Roku Channel: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Apple TV: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $6.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-15.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1987: Best Cinematography (nominated); Best Supporting Actor (nominated); Best Director (won); Best Film Editing (won); Best Picture (won); Best Sound (won) - BAFTA Film Awards 1987: Best Direction (won); Best Editing (won) - Golden Globes 1986: Best Director (won); Best Motion Picture – Drama (won); Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (won) ## If you liked this - *The Big Red One* (1980), Fi1m 82: Another infantryman’s war, with exhaustion and experience shaping the soldiers’ daily decisions. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-big-red-one.md) - *The Ascent* (1977), Fi1m 88: For a harsher moral ordeal, with soldiers pushed beyond endurance in the snow. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-ascent.md) - *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), Fi1m 93: Ground-level conflict widens into a sharper examination of occupation, resistance and civilian suffering. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md) - *The Thin Red Line* (1998), Fi1m 84: For the fear and confusion of combat, with more space for inward reflection. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-thin-red-line.md) - *The Hurt Locker* (2008), Fi1m 86: Another close view of soldiers whose professional competence does not make them safe. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-hurt-locker.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/platoon