a fantastic portrayal of the vietnam war and the horrors surrounding it.

The story is the film's most strong point though. It's a war within a war with many characters to pull for and to identify with. We get to see all of the characters and their relationships develop throughout the battles which leads us to the inevitable. What we get is a heart churning epic that I will always remember.It's easy to understand how it won Best Picture.

Overall I'm not a big fan of war films; many tend to be overlong, overblown and overly sentimental (see: We Were Soldiers, Saving Private Ryan, Windtalkers etc) but if I had to pick a favourite it would definitely be Platoon. Based largely on Oliver Stone's personal experiences, the film paints a disturbing picture of what it was like being a "grunt" in Vietnam.

While this is an excellent film, this particular DVD has zero extras apart from a theatrical trailer, so I'd recommend going for a recently released special edition instead.