Platoon Blu-ray Review

• 17th May 2011

There are a plethora of Oliver Stone movies hitting Blu-ray at the moment and for me, none have been more anticipated than Platoon. If ever a film was made to highlight the wonders of HD both sonically and visually, along with being emotionally pulled in every direction, Platoon is it.

Winner of four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Sound and Film Editing), Platoon is considered one of the greatest war films ever made. The debate will always rage on as to which film is best, and which is best in relation to the Vietnam War, but for me Platoon is up there with one of the best films of all time. Stone manages to tell a story born out of his own personal experiences of the war, no matter how uncomfortable the subject matter gets or how difficult it is to portray, and he does it in one of the most compelling ways ever to hit our screens. It’s brutal, ferocious, terrifying, claustrophobic, infuriating and deeply upsetting. There’s no letting up from start to finish.

Long before Charlie Sheen started “Winning” he played Chris Taylor, a wealthy college student who drops out to join the Vietnam War, believing it shouldn’t only be the poor that have to go off to fight. He joins Bravo Company as an ordinary foot soldier, (also known as grunts) and soon discovers that the war isn’t just against the Viet Cong, but also amongst themselves. Tom Berenger plays Sergeant Barns, a cold-blooded killer, de-sensitised to it all. Willem Dafoe is his opposite Sergeant; a more understanding and admirable soldier (no wonder they gave the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to Michael Caine that year, after these two performances who would have wanted to choose between them) and Chris is stuck between the two as he realises the reality of the war and what a mistake he has made being there.

Platoon has most definitely stood the test of time; 25 years on and it’s still a masterpiece. It’s easy to see why it’s won the awards and accolades it has. But in this transfer to Blu-ray one thing bemuses me. How did it win the Best Sound category? The 5.1 mix on the DVD is poor at best. So I was really looking forward to the DTS-HD Master soundtrack, as visually it’s always been stunning but sonically has required more. But, like the earlier DVD version, I’ve been left severely disappointed. The idea of HD surround is for us to experience the same audio as it would have been originally mastered and I cannot believe that that is what we get. Although the tracks are crystal clear and the ambience well delivered, it isn’t immersive. It is, as before, very front heavy with very little deliverance in the rear set of speakers. The realism of the events suffers because of this. Gunfire sounds flat and the sounds of the jungle, which are ever present, don’t place you in the middle of the action, which makes it feel unrealistic and doesn’t match up to the visual impact.

The music soundtrack too fails to ignite or have any presence, but that said, so great is Stone’s usage of Barber’s Adagio you’ll still feel your spine chilling every time it’s used. It’s still my favourite piece of music to accompany a film and is so moving when married with the imagery.

Watch this on a 2.1 surround system though, or through a TV’s set of speakers, and you won’t be disappointed. If, like me, you want to eke out every last bit of clarity that Blu-ray can deliver, this’ll leave you wanting in a very big way. It’s just not immersive enough in the sound stakes and you feel you’re positioned away from the action rather than within it.

I feared the worst with regards to picture quality too, as some transfers to Blu-ray have been dreadful and lazily converted. Often not being any better than the DVDs they are to replace, this is unforgivable, especially with the price Blu commands. In the opening sequence, as we see Chris exiting the plane, the screen is filled with noise and looks every bit the 25 years old that it is. But from the next scene, all worries I had were gone. What this disc lacks in sound it more than makes up for on picture quality. Opening scene aside, this film’s transfer looks every bit as crisp, clean and detailed as we’ve come to expect from good quality Blu releases. Dark scenes have more clarity and sharpness than before and we’re able to peer into the depths of the forests with ease. It really is every bit as beautiful as the film is harrowing.

Oliver Stone’s decision to shoot the film in a 1:85:1 aspect ratio, like James Cameron that same year with Aliens, leaves me confused. Both films deserved the full-on wider-than-wide touch but neither very disappointingly, got it. Platoon’s impact doesn’t suffer because of this quite as much as Aliens did but you can’t help feeling that the overall impact of war in such close proximity would have been much more exciting in your living room.

Make no mistake; this is a five-star movie that has never looked better. Blu-ray is a magic touch on many of our favourite films. It’s just a shame that in the re-mastering process to HD there was little attention to the sound, but so good is the visual and story that after a while you don’t care about that shortfall.

The Blu-ray also delivers some fantastic extras. There are two commentaries, as found on the original DVD release, one by Oliver Stone and one by Captain Dale Dye who played Sergeant Harris in the film (as well as acting as the movie’s military technical advisor). He gives a great insight into the reality that the actors faced in 100 degree heat and round-the-clock regimes, food rationing and two-hour sleep shifts that meant they lived life as close to being grunts as they possibly could in a 13 day training hell, that ended only when filming began.

We’re also treated to some deleted and extended scenes which weren’t on the Special Edition DVD release. These also come with an optional commentary by Stone to give you a deeper insight into why they were cut. Most interestingly is one where Chris lets Barnes live. Good choice for the cutting room floor, that one.

There are some interesting documentaries too, covering many aspects of the film. Disappointingly the 50-minute documentary featured on the DVD, Tour of the Inferno is missing, and in its place we have some pretty pointless vignettes and TV spots. With the space available to studios on Blu, this is an unforgivable omission despite the other documentaries added.

This 25-year Anniversary Edition release on Blu-ray is a must-have, despite its shortcomings; the film has never looked or sounded better and its HD makeover takes you closer to the action than ever before. And as that’s what Oliver Stone wanted this film to do in the first place, that’s exactly what we now get.

Chris Bulman