Platoon vs. Apocalypse Now
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terokivinen — 12 years ago(April 25, 2013 03:39 PM)
This is the case, no question. I like both FMJ and AN, but they don't portray war as thoroughly as Platoon. This is also the opinion of any war veteran I've talked about these movies with. FMJ focuses on the training and part in Vietnam is too weird. AN is a story of one guy traveling down a river with not much actual war action. The villain is a ex-soldier who now think he's god, what the beep? The only battle scene is when a comical cavalry(I'm figuring from the stupid hat) is leading soldiers to fight on a beach because it's good to surf there. What the beep, seriously? AN narrating, music and visuals are awesome but the main plot is pretty stupid and has nothing to do with real war. My list is: P>FMJ>AN. It's very hard to convince Coppola fanboys who won't accept that newer movies are sometimes better than old ones
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degree7 — 12 years ago(April 25, 2013 04:00 PM)
I'd rank AN ahead of FMJ, but otherwise I'd agree with you.
But to me, Kubrick and Coppola are making these sort of surreal, grander, theological statements with their films. Whereas platoon is a very heartfelt drama. Different kinds of war films really.
Greatest Films Not in the IMDB Top 250
http://www.imdb.com/list/bc9x1QAFat0/ -
drystyx — 12 years ago(June 16, 2013 09:14 PM)
PLATOON in a landslide.
It is basically a modern version of the timeless classic ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. The chief difference is that they battle more among themselves, and we see an America that has no camaraderie.
This is not the fault of the Peace lovers, but of the Barnes and his ilk. Their insistence on spreading terror for which they could see coming, having been in one part of it, enabled them to always stay safe, while their comrades were massacred. There were enemy troopers of the same ilk, who engaged in the same circle, always knowing when "not to be in the village".
APOCALYPSE NOW is pure Hollywood, and thus purely topical for the time. It has no chance of passing the test of time. Once its fans hit old age, it will wear away like a bad stench everyone shoos away.
I fart in your general direction -
rascal67 — 12 years ago(July 05, 2013 02:37 AM)
..and we see an America that has no camaraderie.
This was an important and major theme of PLATOON. Since Vietnam was a war being fought by men, who really had no solid compounded reasoning as to why they were fighting and what they were doing over thereunlike WWII.
APOCALYPSE NOW is pure Hollywood, and thus purely topical for the time
APOCALYPSE NOW impresses me more with it's technical qualities, rather than any real profound message that it has to deliver about the Vietnam War..other than that it can make you crazy. Plays out more like an adventure film down a mysterious river. The setting for the story was changed from the Congo, so Vietman was just really a topical backdrop as you have mentioned.
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Untouchable757 — 11 years ago(April 13, 2014 04:39 PM)
Apocalypse Now, hands down.
One of the greatest villains in cinema history (Col. Kurtz) and was really the first Vietnam moviehell, the first war movie period to really portray the extreme psychological horrors of war with such gritty realism.
Platoon is almost cartoonish in comparison. -
Inspector81 — 11 years ago(April 14, 2014 12:19 AM)
One of the greatest villains in cinema history (Col. Kurtz) and was really the first Vietnam moviehell, the first war movie period to really portray the extreme psychological horrors of war with such gritty realism.
"The Green Berets" was the first Vietnam War film and it was made while the war was still going on.
Platoon is almost cartoonish in comparison.
You obviously weren't alive in the 80's if you think that.
Platoon was by far the better film and for once I agreed with the Academy Awards which named Platoon best picture of 1986 and didn't do the same for Apocalypse Now in 1979 which lost to Kramer vs Kramer. -
Neil_Williamson — 11 years ago(February 05, 2015 12:34 PM)
I guess on the Platoon message board most people will favor Platoon over Apocalypse now, but AN wins for me for the sheer experience of watching it, like no other film I know. Platoon is just a very good war movie but AN is a level or two above it.
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Druff — 10 years ago(July 08, 2015 03:54 PM)
I like Platoon, a lot. I must, I've watched it a bunch of times over the last 30 years and enjoyed it every time. But compared to Apocalypse Now, it's simplistic and pedestrian. It's not even a contest, AN destroys Platoon.
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woowoo-6 — 10 years ago(November 22, 2015 09:49 PM)
They are two different movies and both stand on their own merits. Platoon is more of a realistic remembrance of someone who actually served in 'nam as a grunt; while AN is based on Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' and is a little bit on the artistic side. I'm sure most already know the Heart of Darkness connection, but for those that don't - AN makes much more sense, especially regarding imperialism and a defacto enslavement of an entire people. Not that I fully agree with that, but I can see some similarities with the two.
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pronaab — 9 years ago(January 10, 2017 06:21 PM)
Apocalypse Now easily, as said it stands the test of time way better. It's also not a pure war movie but more a movie that happens to be set during the Vietnam war.
Having seen war movies like Black Hawk down Platoon just didn't stand the test of time as well.
I can imagine that at the time it was highly regarded though.