Platoon (DVD)

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"Platoon" is rated "R" for language, extreme violence, and gore—and there's plenty of all three.

Video: This release is touted as being "remastered in High Definition," but Hi Def on a 20-year-old movie is not the same as Hi Def on a 2006 release. Especially in the title sequence there are visible flaws that morph in and out of your picture, with overexposed outdoor sequences. When the men get into the jungle and low-lit conditions the clarity gets closer to what we've gotten used to expecting out of Hi Def, and even at that there's slight graininess throughout. The picture is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and aside from the opening and one other scene where there are noticeable imperfections, the quality is pretty good.

Audio: The audio, though, was really juiced up for this 2-disc release, though the English DTS and English Dolby Digital 5.1 are pretty close to my non-audiophile's ears, which is to say excellent and a big improvement over the initial 2.0 that this was released in. If I can put my finger on anything, it's that the explosions and gunfire have a slightly brighter pop to them on the DTS soundtrack. Subtitles are in English, French, and Spanish.

Extras: Okay, this is what the 2-disc release is all about. Though I don't have the Special Edition 2001 release in my collection to compare with this release, I suspect that the same commentaries by Stone and military advisor Capt. (Ret.) Dale Dye are identical to those on that DVD. Both are better than average, but Dye's is actually packed with more information because he covers more ground than the plodding and laconic Stone. And we learn very quickly that he wasn't your typical military advisor. He took it upon himself to "co-make" this picture, which the commentary makes absolutely clear. He trained the men in boot camp, and he was in the body bag that gets loaded in the airplane in the opening scene. There are lots of tidbits like that scattered throughout.

The excellent 50-minute feature on "Tour of the Inferno" also repeats from the 2001 release, which should be a relief for fans of the film. This extra is fantastic because it shows shots of a young Stone in the military and on the set, and covers the boot camp that the men went through to prepare for filming. No cut-and-paste schlock, this extra incorporates historical footage as well, so it's great to have it in this set. Stone talks a lot about his time in the military, and we realize that he was the model for Taylor, and the other men were composites of real men he knew in the 25th Infantry and 1st Cavalry in Vietnam from 1967-68.

MGM put together two new documentaries for this release. One of them, "One War, Many Stories," groups Vietnam vets in a theater talking about their experiences—a kind of focus group—which are then intercut with interviews with Stone talking about his own experience and vintage clips. A second bonus feature, "Preparing for Nam," follows the same format with Stone on camera again, this time intercut with clips of basic training and other vintage clips. In both cases, it's not the standard thrown-together mix of talking heads and clips from the film. Somebody actually took some care to do additional research and put together something new and original. All three documentaries are very good, as is the legacy-minded "Raw Wounds" and a contextual feature, "Snapshot in Time: 1967-68."

Fans of the film will also appreciate a dozen deleted scenes, playable with or without commentary by Stone. One of them, a "dream sequence," Stone flat-out labels "stupid," so there's no mystery why it was cut. The other interesting scene is an alternate ending that Stone says now that he should have used instead of the one he chose. More good stuff here, and the scenes are in better shape than most that are dragged kicking and screaming from the vault. Rounding out the extras are TV spots, the original trailer, and photo galleries of posters and behind-the-scenes still shots. All in all, MGM finally got it right. This is a great package.

One side note on the packaging: The two single-sided discs are housed in a single-width keep-case with a decorative acetate sleeve similar to those that Warner Brothers has been using for their TV cartoon releases. Count me among those who can never seem to slide these things on again very easily.

Bottom Line: Stone and his military advisor Dye said they wanted to make "the definitive film about Vietnam." Given the heavily stylistic nature of "Apocalpyse Now," the other serious contender for top dog, I'd say that they succeeded. "Platoon" captures the experience of Vietnam most accurately and realistically, while also managing to forge a modern fable about good and evil, and the ultimate powerlessness of individuals.