War! What Is It Good For? Apparently, Extremely Compelling Films…

6. Platoon

Image Source: Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY NETWORK

You can boil down Platoon to a single iconic image — Willem Dafoe gets gunned down by Vietnamese soldiers as his fellow infantrymen bear witness to his grim and lonesome demise. Writer-director Oliver Stone sought to immerse the audience totally in the nightmare of the United States’ misguided adventure. Three decades later, Stone’s autobiographical offering impresses less than the more surreal, less accurate Vietnam pictures like Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. With that said, its style and brutality still make it a seriously affecting movie.