Surprisingly not a rip off of 1986's Platoon; Platoon Leader is a surprisingly good, but cheaply made, depiction of the Vietnam war. Knowing today that the Vietnam war, like all NATO aggression, was based on a lie, gives the deaths of not only American, but Vietnamese troops something of a tragic element.
The film however offers a gritty look at Vietnam with some pretty good action sequences and a bit of humour. Michael Dudikov (the proper way to spell his surname) gives a career best performance as Lieutenant Knight, a Green point graduate that is disrespected by the 'grunts' he commands. His job is to prove himself to the platoon with bravery and solid management. Despite numerous writers involved with the screenplay, it's a poor script. There are numerous elements that could have made Dudikov's character, Lieutenant Knight, more approachable, but bizarrely, these parts fall to Sergeant Michael McNamara (Lyons). McNamara was already fully aligned with the squadron and you have to question the screenplay's logic for dropping that interesting sub-plot. As soon as the action starts, we are forced to forget about the new Lieutenant's task to become a respected leader. It's immediately brushed aside, but luckily, it doesn't have a major effect on the quality of the feature.
Platoon Leader was based upon James R. McDonough's memoir of the same name. This leads to some interesting hard drug references that offer an interesting tweak to an area Platoon covered to a far lesser scale. Whilst I'm not saying that Platoon Leader has anything philosophical to share, the way they covered drug addiction was fairly interesting. Chuck Norris was originally cast to play Knight, but he dropped out to work on Hero And The Terror. His brother Aaron stayed on as director though, making PL the only film he directed without his elder brother. Golan and Globus from The Canon Group had an ace in their pocket with Russian James Dean lookalike, Michael Dudikov. Dudikov shot to fame four years earlier with the impressive, American Ninja ('84). This movie offered a real challenge to the former American Ninja star, because it was a far more meaty and challenging role for the thirty-three-year old actor. This was originally titled 'Nam' and I've got a signed picture of the cast under the Nam name. I guess the success of 1986's Platoon made them use the book's original monicker. Yo Hollywood producers... Nam is a great title for a war movie.
Whilst this is definitely a career best from Dudikov, whom I always loved after the aforementioned martial arts extravaganza. He still lacks the range to add depth to his portrayal of the new Lieutenant. His performance is solid, but not exceptional. I'm not trying to criticise the impressive Dudikov here. I actually thought he gave a pretty good display and delivered some emotions that I thought were far beyond him. He just lacks the dramatic verve that William Dafoe and Tom Hanks added to their respective war movies. I'll say though that on this evidence, he was close to Charlie Sheen level in Platoon, or maybe slightly underneath Charlie. William Smith, Michael Lorenzo and Robert Lyons are fine in supporting roles, but you're definitely not watching this for great dramatics. They are slasher movie level at best. I think to add credibility to Aaron Norris' work, they're all performing to the best of their abilities in Platoon Leader.
This really comes alive in its impressive action sequences, especially the last couple of big battles. These are fairly well directed by Norris, but there's nothing particularly outstanding from his shooting. If you've enjoyed titles like Crossbone Territory ('87) and Dog Tags ('87), Platoon Leader will be a masterpiece for you. If you're looking for a Saving Private Ryan ('98) or Come And See ('85) type deeply dramatic endeavour, you might be left unimpressed. I watched Platoon Leader straight after Oliver Stone's Platoon and I did really enjoy it. There have been complaints that the feature is somewhat slow moving, but I really didn't think so. I had a good time, and I definitely recommend you tracking this down. Can you believe that they put a confederate flag on display at the barracks? God I miss the eighties. How great it was to have no political correctness and zero WOKE virtual signalling.
Quite why Michael Dudikoff didn't get a call for an expendables sequel is beyond me. He's certainly not an Oscar level actor, but worse than Jason Statham? Come on...
The film however offers a gritty look at Vietnam with some pretty good action sequences and a bit of humour. Michael Dudikov (the proper way to spell his surname) gives a career best performance as Lieutenant Knight, a Green point graduate that is disrespected by the 'grunts' he commands. His job is to prove himself to the platoon with bravery and solid management. Despite numerous writers involved with the screenplay, it's a poor script. There are numerous elements that could have made Dudikov's character, Lieutenant Knight, more approachable, but bizarrely, these parts fall to Sergeant Michael McNamara (Lyons). McNamara was already fully aligned with the squadron and you have to question the screenplay's logic for dropping that interesting sub-plot. As soon as the action starts, we are forced to forget about the new Lieutenant's task to become a respected leader. It's immediately brushed aside, but luckily, it doesn't have a major effect on the quality of the feature.
Platoon Leader was based upon James R. McDonough's memoir of the same name. This leads to some interesting hard drug references that offer an interesting tweak to an area Platoon covered to a far lesser scale. Whilst I'm not saying that Platoon Leader has anything philosophical to share, the way they covered drug addiction was fairly interesting. Chuck Norris was originally cast to play Knight, but he dropped out to work on Hero And The Terror. His brother Aaron stayed on as director though, making PL the only film he directed without his elder brother. Golan and Globus from The Canon Group had an ace in their pocket with Russian James Dean lookalike, Michael Dudikov. Dudikov shot to fame four years earlier with the impressive, American Ninja ('84). This movie offered a real challenge to the former American Ninja star, because it was a far more meaty and challenging role for the thirty-three-year old actor. This was originally titled 'Nam' and I've got a signed picture of the cast under the Nam name. I guess the success of 1986's Platoon made them use the book's original monicker. Yo Hollywood producers... Nam is a great title for a war movie.
Whilst this is definitely a career best from Dudikov, whom I always loved after the aforementioned martial arts extravaganza. He still lacks the range to add depth to his portrayal of the new Lieutenant. His performance is solid, but not exceptional. I'm not trying to criticise the impressive Dudikov here. I actually thought he gave a pretty good display and delivered some emotions that I thought were far beyond him. He just lacks the dramatic verve that William Dafoe and Tom Hanks added to their respective war movies. I'll say though that on this evidence, he was close to Charlie Sheen level in Platoon, or maybe slightly underneath Charlie. William Smith, Michael Lorenzo and Robert Lyons are fine in supporting roles, but you're definitely not watching this for great dramatics. They are slasher movie level at best. I think to add credibility to Aaron Norris' work, they're all performing to the best of their abilities in Platoon Leader.
This really comes alive in its impressive action sequences, especially the last couple of big battles. These are fairly well directed by Norris, but there's nothing particularly outstanding from his shooting. If you've enjoyed titles like Crossbone Territory ('87) and Dog Tags ('87), Platoon Leader will be a masterpiece for you. If you're looking for a Saving Private Ryan ('98) or Come And See ('85) type deeply dramatic endeavour, you might be left unimpressed. I watched Platoon Leader straight after Oliver Stone's Platoon and I did really enjoy it. There have been complaints that the feature is somewhat slow moving, but I really didn't think so. I had a good time, and I definitely recommend you tracking this down. Can you believe that they put a confederate flag on display at the barracks? God I miss the eighties. How great it was to have no political correctness and zero WOKE virtual signalling.
Quite why Michael Dudikoff didn't get a call for an expendables sequel is beyond me. He's certainly not an Oscar level actor, but worse than Jason Statham? Come on...