The world here is seen through the eyes of raw recruit Chris Taylor (Charlie
Sheen) who dropped out of college and wanted to do his share for his
country, touring 'Nam for a year from September 1967. He really doesn't know
what he's letting himself in for though with insects in the jungle biting
him being the least of his worries as troops from the other allegiances are
out to hunt him and his platoon out too.
This is an exceptionally powerful film with strong dialogue, a number of
surprise scenes and plenty of violence as the men tour from place to place
setting up camp, getting high to ease the pain, torching "gook" villages and
committing illegal acts as they go.
A large cast is effectively led by Charlie Sheen with his narration in the
form of letters home to his grandma. There are the two warring Sargeants,
Barnes (Tom Berenger) and Elias (Willem Dafoe) leading to a
tense showdown, the aptly-named Big Harold (Forest Whitaker), the
big-talk-but-chicken-shit Sargeant O'Neill (John C. McGinley),
the over-zealous Bunny (Kevin Dillon, who later appeared in Stone's
The Doors) and translator Lerner (Johnny Depp).
Stone obviously drew upon his recollection of his own time in Vietnam for
this film. It's certificate is a mystery too, since the content is typical
for most 18-cert war films, but Stone was favoured by the BBFC and the film
was given a 15-cert, whilst the less-violent Full Metal Jacket from Stanley
Kubrick was stuck with an 18.
Sargeant Barnes. He's not very nice.
Presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, the print is anamorphic
similar to the recent Region 1 release, making them both better picture-wise
than the previous Region 1 Special Edition, although with much less extras.
There are a few flecks on the print but nothing to worry about particularly.
The average bitrate is 7.65Mb/s, often peaking above 9Mb/s.
In 1992, a widescreen video was released in the UK framed at approx 2.00:1. On comparison
with this DVD, some scenes have been matted a little bit more to get that ratio, while
others appear to have lost a little info from the sides. Given that the film was shot
open-matte in the first place and that the 1.85:1 ratio is stated on the Region 1 Special
Edition as a 'Director-approved transfer', then this is the ratio we'll forever be left
with but there's never a scene that looks badly-framed so I'm happy with it and the colours
on the DVD are a lot stronger.
A remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is available for English dialogue and comes
into its own when the gunfire lets rip in the jungle, not to mention the evocative
use of Barber's Adagio for Strings, often played during the film - particularly
at the end - and it was recently bastardised by William Orbit and stuck in the
charts with a dance beat behind it. Dialogue is clear too, which is essential for
Sheen's narration.
Sargeant Elias poses for the cover.
Extras :
Chapters :
The usual 32 from MGM, just three short of that used in the Region 1 Special Edition.
Languages & Subtitles :
Dialogue comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 for English only, while the French, German, Italian
and Spanish have to make to with Dolby Surround.
Subtitles are in English, German (both with hard of hearing alternatives), Dutch, French,
Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Polish.
And there's more... :
Just the same two-minute Trailer from the Region 1 DVD SE and a booklet with some
production notes. Why can't we have the same as that one, with two audio commentaries
(one from director Stone and the other from technical advisor Dale Dye, who
doubled up in a small role as Captain Harris) and a documentary, "A Tour of the Inferno" ?
Menu :
The main menu is silent, but with some animation through a gun-sight.
War's a drag for Charlie Sheen.
Overall, this is one of my all-time favourite films and it's great to finally see an
anamorphic transfer, but while the first casualty of war is innocence, so the
first casualty of this disc is the extras which are severely lacking.
If you can get it for a good, fairly cheap price, then get it, but with few extras
it's not worth the full twenty quid.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
