Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 89% based on 120 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "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."[34] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 92 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[35] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[36]
Roger Ebert gave it four out of four stars, calling it the best film of the year, and the ninth best of the 1980s.[37][38] Gene Siskel also awarded the film four out of four stars,[39] and observed that Vietnam War veterans greatly identified with the film.[40] In his New York Times review, Vincent Canby described Platoon as "possibly the best work of any kind about the Vietnam War since Michael Herr's vigorous and hallucinatory book Dispatches.[41]
"The film has been widely acclaimed," Pauline Kael admitted, "but some may feel that Stone takes too many melodramatic shortcuts, and that there's too much filtered light, too much poetic license, and too damn much romanticized insanity ... The movie crowds you; it doesn't leave you room for an honest emotion."[24]
However, black journalist Wallace Terry, who spent a two-year tour in Vietnam, and wrote the 1967 Time cover story entitled The Negro in Vietnam, criticized the film for its depiction of African-American soldiers in Vietnam. In an interview with Maria Wilhelm of People, he called the film's depiction of black troops "a slap in the face". In the interview, Terry noted that there were no black actors playing officers, and the three notable black soldiers in the film were all portrayed as cowards. He further went on to criticise the film for perpetuating black stereotypes, stating the film "barely rises above the age-old Hollywood stereotypes of blacks as celluloid savages and coons who do silly things".[42]
Awards and nominations
| Award | Category | Subject | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Best Picture | Arnold Kopelson | Won |
| Best Director | Oliver Stone | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Tom Berenger | Nominated | |
| Willem Dafoe | Nominated | ||
| Best Original Screenplay | Oliver Stone | Nominated | |
| Best Cinematography | Robert Richardson | Nominated | |
| Best Film Editing | Claire Simpson | Won | |
| Best Sound | John K. Wilkinson, Richard Rogers, Charles "Bud" Grenzbach, Simon Kaye | Won | |
| BAFTA Award | Best Editing | Claire Simpson | Won |
| Best Cinematography | Robert Richardson | Nominated | |
| Best Direction | Oliver Stone | Won | |
| Directors Guild of America Award | Outstanding Directing – Feature Film | Won | |
| Golden Globe Award | Best Director | Won | |
| Best Screenplay | Nominated | ||
| Best Motion Picture – Drama | Arnold Kopelson | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture | Tom Berenger | Won | |
| Silver Bear | Best Director | Oliver Stone | Won |
| Independent Spirit Award | Best Director | Won | |
| Best Screenplay | Won | ||
| Best Film | Arnold Kopelson | Won | |
| Best Male Lead | Willem Dafoe | Nominated | |
| Best Cinematography | Robert Richardson | Won | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Best Original Screenplay | Oliver Stone | Nominated |
Other honors
American Film Institute lists:
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies: #83
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills: #72
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition): #86
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains: Sgt. Bob Barnes - Nominated Villain
In 2011, British television channel Channel 4 voted Platoon as the 6th greatest war film ever made, behind Full Metal Jacket and ahead of A Bridge Too Far.[43]
