VS.
ACTING
The”Platoon” ensemble is of
up-and-comers and they show great promise. Sheen evinces the proper naivete and
eventual loss of innocence as Taylor. The showier roles of Elias and Barnes are
nailed by Dafoe and Barnes (both of whom were nominated for Best Supporting Actor).
Special mention to the two most loathsome characters: Dillon as the psychopath
Bunny and John McGinley as the ass-kisser O’Neill. All of them went through Dale
Dye’s boot camp and their performances reflect immersion over the usual
emoting. They are not playing soldier, they seem to be soldiers. A+
‘’Siege of Firebase Gloria” is
basically a two man show. R. Lee Ermey
has his first starring role, coming off of “Apocalypse Now” the year
before. This time he has to act as he is
not playing a drill sergeant. He still
has a way with soldier talk and the profanity that goes with it. He got an uncredited screenplay nod so you
can assume he wrote some of his dialogue.
He carries the movie.
Unfortunately, his peer Wings Hauser performs like the B-List actor that
he is. He chews the faux Vietnamese
scenery as the unstable DiNardo. The
rest of the cast is no names who did not earn career boosts for their
efforts. C
FIRST QUARTER SCORE
Platoon 10
Siege of Firebase Gloria 7
PLOT
“Platoon” is based on Oliver Stone’s experiences in
Vietnam about midway through U.S. involvement.
The plot centers around a dysfunctional platoon and its antagonistic
sergeants Barnes and Elias. Each
sergeant has half of the platoon as his acolytes. The platoon is divided between Barnes’ boozer
hawks and Elias’ doper doves. The
pressures of the unit dynamics and the stress of the guerrilla war they are
engaged in leads to some tense moments in the field and in camp. Besides the dramatically enhanced group
interactions, the film includes some edge of your seat combat. Stone is not subtle in advancing his themes,
but the screenplay is effective as entertainment and is educational about the
soldier experience. A
“Siege” is basically a retelling of the Alamo. It is set at the beginning of the Tet
Offensive. Hafner, DiNardo, and their
LRRP end up in the titular firebase just before a major VC assault. Hafner takes command and organizes the last
stand. Meanwhile, the film gives
balanced treatment toward the VC commander.
There is plenty of mindless action in the form of human wave
attacks. The screenplay is your typical
“who will survive?” scenario and is predictable, but not embarrassingly
executed. C
HALFTIME SCORE
Platoon 19
Siege of Firebase Gloria 14
COMBAT
“Platoon” has several set pieces that are among the
best of any Vietnam War movie. Major
kudos for reenacting night combat so viscerally. Although night actions were fairly common in
Vietnam, you seldom see them in movies.
The combat scenes do an excellent job not lumping all the characters
together. They remain individuals. If you compare the last battle to the last
assault on Firebase Gloria, it is amply clear which movie handled combat
better. A
“Siege” has more combat, so it tops “Platoon” in quantity. There are three “Zulu” type assaults that are
long and bloody. They lack subtlety, but the movie was not aimed at the art
house crowd. As usual in this kind of
film, the slaughter is enough for several real battles. The quantity is not matched with quality as
the extras often die laughably. All the
various ways to kill and be killed are explored, including death by
machete. B
THIRD QUARTER SCORE
Platoon 28
Siege of Firebase Gloria 22
REALISM
Although Stone oversold his film as the realistic take on the war, it is
clear that the movie’s platoon is not typical of a small unit in Vietnam. However, all of the characters and situations
were typical of the war in general. The
tactics are true to the American army in the war. The movie has been criticized for depicting
the soldiers in a bad light, but my reading of oral histories assures me the
negative actions and portrayals were justified because they did exist. The soldier behavior, the lingo, the command
dynamics are probably the best tutorial on the war that have been put on
film. B
“Siege” benefits from a realistic portrayal of leadership by R. Lee
Ermey. However, much of the film is over
the top in its coverage of the war. The
firebase is authentic looking, but much of the soldier behavior is
ridiculous. The original commander (before
Hafner has him fragged) is a naked drug addict.
DiNardo is a psychopath prone to violating the rules of warfare. There is a night raid on the enemy camp that
defies reality. The movie attempts to be
sympathetic towards the VC, but does them a disservice in its depiction of
human wave assaults in broad daylight.
If the same had been done in their preferred milieu of night, the
firebase would have been overrun early.
The sporadic use of mortars by the enemy also does not match their
tactics. Only people like me care about
stuff like this, but its my tournament D
FINAL SCORE
Platoon 36
Siege 29
ANALYSIS
“Siege of Firebase Gloria” has its fans and my second
viewing of it made me reconsider my previous very harsh opinion of it. It is a decent little movie and far from the
worst movie about the war. However,
while it can be forgiven for emphasizing entertaining action aimed at the 14
year old boy demographic, it has to take some grief for making a mockery of
realism and characters. If the film did
not have R. Lee Ermey, it would be totally forgettable. This matchup was never in doubt. “Platoon” is the superior film in every way
other than quantity of combat. There
might be some who would disagree with the outcome because they hate “Platoon”,
but no one can seriously argue that “Siege” is the better movie.
