This is way better than Saving Private Ryan

I hear a lot of people saying that Saving Private Ryan was a better war movie than Platoon. No way. I'm guessing it's because SPR has a bigger scale and bigger action scenes thanks to a much bigger budget, but that doesn't make it better than this.

The main difference between Platoon and SPR is that the characters in this movie felt real - they were more humanized and therefore likeable and relatable. The characters in SPR are like caricatures or stereotypes - they're so corny. Every line they speak is a cliché and full of forced acting. The story is so friggin melodramatic & schmaltzy in SPR. Platoon, on the other hand, just wanted to tell a basic story of the life of a soldier in Vietnam, caught between two warring sergeants, just trying to make it through. No cheesy bull$hit about saving the last brother.

When the characters speak in Platoon, they feel authentic... their dialogue feels authentic. They're real people with real personalities and feelings and you really get to know them and care about them. This is because Platoon's script is much better than SPR's, and the quality of the acting is much better. Stone directs them based on first hand knowledge of how grunts in Nam acted and conducted themselves - their battle tactics & formations etc, and it shows big time. It's fantastic to watch.

The jungle setting also feels real and is like a character in itself. Oliver Stone, having fought in Vietnam, adds so much because he knew how to make it feel like you were really right there with them in the humid jungle.

Check out John Milius' comments on why SPR is such an overrated war movie, he really nails its shortcomings, including the unlikable characters. He also mentions Oliver Stone:

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2003/05/07/an-interview-with-john-milius?page=5

In private Ryan, there was a horrible scene where Matt Damon starts talking about something they did to an ugly girl, and how ugly this girl was that they were all screwing or something, and right there, you just say, "Why'd these guys come over like this to save this little creep?" Just put him out there and let the tanks run over him. Sacrifice him to the Panzer God right now

Steven wanted me to come over and shoot second unit on Private Ryan and fix the script and everything. I just didn't want to do any of that ... I said, "This is a bad thing. This is a gimmick film." Which is the worst part of it, because he likes gimmick films. He loves gimmicks, and he makes very good gimmicks. He's very good at making gimmick films

Well the other thing that's a big hole that I heard Colin Powell commented on when he looked at it at the end when that battle is taking place, he said, "Blow the bridge and leave, fellas." Yeah, and as Oliver (Stone) told me, he said that Tom Hanks had told him, "This is the decent thing to do, to stay and hold this bridge." He (Stone) said, "I wouldn't have waited until he turned his back and got into the jungle to frag him; I'd have just shot him right there."

He said part of it was he'd have shot him because he was Tom Hanks. I think Oliver just would like to shoot Tom Hanks anyway, just to see which way he'd fall. I think that the other thing was the ridiculousness of it; they're holding this bridge against the *beep* Panzer regiment, or something? I mean, these guys have M1s. They've got rifles. They're going to hold this bridge against the Panzer regiment? That's just nuts.