Casualties of War: Sean Penn's performance... a bit too much?

Okay, so I finally got around to watching "Casualties of War" and, wow, it's definitely a heavy one. Brian De Palma's direction is so in your face - the whole movie just leaves you feeling disturbed, which I guess is the point, right? But what I really wanted to talk about is Sean Penn as Sergeant Meserve. He's undeniably powerful, and you can really see the shift in him from a leader to truly something else. But I'm on the fence if it ever felt too over the top? Like, when he's making his speeches, or especially in the village after... well, you know. It's intense, but did anyone else feel like he maybe crossed a line into almost caricature at times? It's a fine line between being a convincingly terrifying villain and... well, something less convincing, y'know? Michael J. Fox does a great job as Eriksson, who feels so lost and genuinely appalled. It helped ground the film, I think. But the contrast between Penn's sheer presence and Fox's more subdued performance kinda made me wonder if the movie leaned too hard on the villainous aspects of war, rather than the more subtle erosion of morality that I think would be more realistic? Anyway, anyone else have thoughts on Penn's performance? Did he nail it or was he a little OTT? Curious to hear what others think.