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Summary: 7.62 millimeter Full Metal Jacket!
Review: Inormally hate watching anything more than twice. I get irritated with the tidbits that can make a movie completely awful to watch the second time around. However, with FMJ, it really does get better the more times you watch it! Watch those recruit's facial expressions carefully during the first part of the movie. It's so genuine with the smirks that are given off when the DI yelps his mouth off with hilarious antics. There's no doubt Kubrick filmed the scenes over and over again until they were "just right" -- something that totally lacks in modern day movies. R. Lee Ermey of the History Channel's "Mail Call" shines as the evil drill instructor. Mathew Modine is truly great as "Private Joker" Full Metal Jacket is movie that captures the war from boot camp to the 'Nam and feelings around it so perfectly that nothing can touch it. I was very impressed by how this movie portrayled how brutal boot camp is mentally and physically. I'm sure they don't train people like that anymore, but it was interesting to see how it was done around the Vietnam War. Kubrick is an artist and no one in the industry can even approach his level of skill. This has brutal honesty and passive aggressiveness all in the same package. And it is also the most quotable movie ever.
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Summary: Concerning this DVD:
Review: There seems to be some confusion concerning this DVD. There were two releases of "Full Metal Jacket" on DVD: 1999 and 2001. The 1999 release is out-of-print (both releases have identical cover art). This is the 2001 release. It has been "digitally restored and remastered" (that should settle the "transfer" complaints about the 1999 release) and is in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound (and the mono sound complaints about the 1999 release).Concerning extras: first off, don't ever expect any big extras with Kubrick's films. He was very protective of his art and you can just about forget ever seeing a deleted scene or some tacky featurette. "The Shining" comes with a "Making of" feature, but that was Kubrick-sanctioned and shot by his daughter. And now that Kubrick is dead, you can forget about any director commentary, though his estate might sanction ones by actors and assistants on some future release, don't count on it. This "Full Metal Jacket" DVD has one "extra" and it is the theatrical trailer. Stanley Kubrick filmed "Full Metal Jacket" in what is known as "academy ratio" or a 1.33:1 aspect ratio (AKA full screen). Contrary to what it says on the back of the box: THERE IS NO WIDESCREEN VERSION OF THIS FILM -- NEVER HAS BEEN. THIS HAS NOT BEEN MODIFIED FROM ITS ORIGINAL VERSION. You are seeing everything Kubrick saw when he looked through the camera. No pan-and-scan. In fact even better: no black bars -- MORE PICTURE! That said, this movie is typical of Kubrick and his art. It is not by any stretch his best film, but it is the ultimate portrayal of U.S. Marines training for war. The gritty, hateful boot camp is unforgettable in its frankness. The final scenes of combat in Hué are powerful in their bleakness and treachery. It may be interesting to know that Kubrick is the voice of Murphy on the combat radio. Absolutely only for mature viewers.
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Summary: Unrealistic Murder / Suicide
Review: Great insight into the dehumanisation process of Army basic training. I completed basic training in the Australian Army Reserves. Not quite as severe but still tough - our Platoon Sargent was ex SAS and had served in Vietnam - he said it was "Horrible" In the movie, the murder / suicide by "Pyle" seems a bit unrealistic. The guy has now completed his basic training and found his niche as a marksman - in other words he got through! There is no obvious reason for his cracking up other than his hate of his drill Seargent - but he has now been trained to focus that anger on Vietnamese - thats the point of training! The character should have continued into the second part as the sadochistic Machine Gunner (who appeared from nowhere)- the triumph of military training over human emotion. Also the street fighting in Hue was not realisitic - Hue was house to house fighting - not some industrial site. Documentaries will show the real Hue battle which was much more intense and bloody with many civilians caught in crossfire as the Americans attempted to blast everything in their way - including most of the Royal Citidel.
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Summary: the best war movie ever made
Review: if it weren't for the fact that this actually is THE best war movie ever made it would be worthwhile discussing nothing but the fact that this movie is the exact opposite of Platoon, the one that won all the awards, and the one that happens to suck. where platoon was choreographed nonsense, this is unbelievably intense human drama. it may be a movie, but it sure feels real.
platoon bit.
this is the real thing.
like Tombstone (great) vs wyatt earp (just not good), or Armageddon (very entertaining, if a bit sci-fi silly) vs deep impact (moronic), this is not simply the better of the two, this is GREAT.
and the sound track is excellent.
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Summary: another kubrick masterpiece
Review: this film is very imotional. i almost cried when i saw it for the first time.
it's like two films in one package, so some people might be a little confused, but if you think about it it all makes perfect sense.
if you think yourselves true movie fans get the hell out of your house and rent it.
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Summary: Kubrick does it again!!
Review: "Full Metal Jacket" is basically two films in one. The best one of course being what the soldiers had to go through in boot camp. Joker ( Matthew Modine), Animal Mother ( Adam Baldiwn), Gomer ( Vincent D'Onofrio), and others are all plunged into a boot-camp hell run by the ruthless and sadistic Sergeant Hartman ( Lee Ermey). He pushes the boys to their physical and emotional limits, and views them as grunts, maggots, or something even lower. Once bootcamp is over, the second story starts, and the boys are thrust into the Vietnam war. This part of the film features tons of realistic battle scenes, how each soldier reacts to the war itself, and the brotherhood that develops between the fellow soldiers. "Full Metal Jacket" is a beautiful combination of comedy, violence, and the horror of war. As great as this film is however, I could only give it a rating of 4 stars. In order for a film to give a 5 star rating from me, it cannot seem boring or drawn out. Once the soldiers go to war, the film can be extremely slow moving at times. But for the most part, watching the film is a rewarding experience. The cast is sensational. Lee Ermey's portrayal of Drill Instructor Sergeant Hartman is one of the best I have ever seen. I have never felt sorrier for a character than I did with Vincent D'Onofrio's Private "Gomer Pyle". Watching what he had to go through will shock and disgust you. Especially the scene where he gets beat repeatedly with bars of soap. The conclusion to boot camp between Gomer and Sgt. Hartman is one of the most shocking and dramatic scenes that I have ever witnessed. Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Dorian Harewood, and Arliss Howard are all great in their roles as well, and really help to bring the story to life. Although "Full Metal Jacket" can be quite slow at some points in the film, it is one of the greatest war films ever made. The boot camp session will have you laughing harder than you ever have before, the battle scenes are realistic, the music is wonderful, and the performanes are outstanding. Be warned though, the DVD is extremely mediocre. For some reason, all DVD's for Kubrick's films offer average quality and no extras.
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Summary: the 2nd half...
Review: Unlike many of the other reviews here on Amazon, I found the 2nd story to be completely engrossing and also it serves to bring the experience of war full circle from the first story. We are encouraged to believe during the Paris Island training sequence that the Marines are being turned into cold killing machines. But when we finally see them in the 2nd story, we see the reality of what their training has come to. It is ugly. War is ugly. It is dehumanizing and unforgiving. Kubrick, smartly, pays no moral obligations to any of the elements surrounding the situation (which to some critics is its drawback). The grand finale where the sniper's identity is revealed is one of the most engrossing film images that spring into mind about war and most particularly the current state of what modern war is about. If you want some schlocky over-sentimentalized melodrama about Vietnam, go watch any number of Oliver Stone's solipsistic nonsense. But if you want to see a film which captures the dehumanizing effects of what war is like, then this is the film you must see.
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Summary: really good
Review: I watched this for my first time a couple days ago and it is a really good movie. I didn't find any problems with the DVD. The whole movie was good other tan the scenes where the beat on Pyle and Pyle comits suicide and also kills the drill instructor.
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Summary: The REAL reason this movie has a following.
Review: Many people who see this movie have no idea why it has a near cult following in the U.S.. In the editorial at the product site I read a comment that said: "... he seemed out of touch with the vouge...made people wonder why he even made this film..." True the movie didn't havce much pop-culture apeal, but it does have the loyalist constituancy any movie could ever have, the U.S. Marine Corps. Marines generally love this movie. It is one of the most true to life depictions of what we go through in boot-camp that has ever been put to screen. In the movie we all see at least a few scenes of boot-camp life we ourselves experienced.
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Summary: Parris Island
Review: To date there is no film that is more accurate a depiction of Parris Island Marine Corps recruit training than this (I speak from first-hand experience). My Third Battalion platoon endured the same level of ridicule from two of our junior Drill Instructors (not the third junior or Senior Drill Instructor), and we took our share of beatings from them and even beat on each other every now and then. It was not a wild rampage of chaos but the result of conforming and adjusting to a team mentality where we all understood and accepted the required level of commitment and sacrifice that the title of Marine might some day demand of us. Lee Ermey (FMJ's Senior Drill Instructor) was himself an actual Marine Corps Drill Instructor. He gave a believable performance in the film, The Boys in Company C, during the late 1960's or early 1970's, but the setting was the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, quite different in it's depiction of basic training than Full Metal Jacket. The boot camp scene in FMJ had all the look and feel of Parris Island, especially the super-wide cement and brick squad-bays of Second Battalion, which faces the Parris Island parade field. The foot lockers, racks (beds), rifles and other equipment, the drill instructor's commands and tactics, the running chants, the behaviors of the recruits, and the entire mood of the boot camp scene is incredibly accurate. I can see how people who have served in other services or different eras of the Corps might not be able to agree, but my experience at Parris Island WAS the Lee Ermey exprience. A typical platoon started with 72 recruits and graduated with 50-60. One platoon in another series actually graduated 25 out of its original 70. It was that tough physically and psychologically. Rifle Range suicides were common. I saw one. Many times the drill instructors would order us off of equipment (a common use of reverse psychology on those who were naturally prone to giving up), but God help the recruit who did give up and jump off. I was ordered to quit what I was doing many times, but I never did quit because I was wise to the trick tactics. After graduation we expected to shake hands and have our pictures taken with our drill instructors, but instead they ordered us, "the f**k off my G*dd**n island!!!" With all this said, Lee Ermey's character was a loud, obnoxious, wild-eyed, inhuman beast who was "full of piss and vinegar," and nothing even remotely compassionate. But that's how it was. I highly recommend that anyone who is curious about the Marine Corps basic training environment (at least how it was) buy this disc and supplement it with true film footage from a modern Discovery Channel series called, The Making of Marines. Otherwise the film is not worth the plastic disc it is authored on, unless, of course this was similar to your own experience in Viet-nam. For me the show ends with the boot camp scene. Thankfully it consumes about a third to half of the movie. For good Viet-nam films I recommend Platoon, Hamburger Hill, and We Were Soldiers. With a feeling of (questionably sadistic?) nostalgia: SEMPER FI
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