Platoon

Platoon is currently streaming in Australia on Amazon Prime Video and Stan, and in the US on Amazon Prime Video and MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, and it earns its set pieces rather than just delivering them. A tight runtime that never overstays its welcome. An 8/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Charlie Sheen's performance is the throughline that holds the set pieces together. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Amazon Prime Video.

Platoon arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. The set pieces are impressive, but it is the story underneath them that gives Platoon its staying power. As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man. Charlie Sheen and Willem Dafoe lead a cast that earns every set piece rather than just filling it. It was released in 1986. The action sequences are expensive-looking without drawing attention to their own budget — they serve the story rather than interrupting it. The consistency throughout is what elevates it — not every moment is the best, but none of them are a reason to stop watching.

The genre has a long history of front-loading its best moments — Platoon is not one of those. It rewards viewers regardless of what else is in their watch history. Short enough to finish in one sitting, substantial enough to feel satisfying. Charlie Sheen brings a physicality to the role that elevates every set piece. Action that earns its sequences rather than just delivering them.