Rating: 
Summary: one of the best war movies ever!!!
Review: This is a great war movie. I am a great fan of Stanley Kubrick, and this is one of his best. The beginning starts off in bootcamp and is pretty up-lifting. But becomes haunting and tragic. The second half is about the Vietnam War (which is not as entertaining as the first half). If you are a Kubrick fan, rent this, I guarantee you will enjoy!
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Summary: Ethics and Marines
Review: Stanley Kubrick, in this film, apparently deals with two problems by cutting the film in two separate parts, and yet he only deals with one problem that goes beyond the two parts and reunifies the film. In the first part he gives us a precise, accurate and nearly sickening description of the training of a Marine in the US. This training has to do with brainwashing, physical training and ideological conditioning. The objective is not to produce robots, but Marines who are so well conditioned that killing is their first reflex in a war situation. « Born to kill » as they say. This first part leads to a drama because in the mass of new recruits, there is, not a rotten apple, but one who cannot stand the brainwashing, because he cannot erase some of his old psychological attachments. His unconscuious reacts against the brainwashing and turns the brainwashing against the trainer and against the owner of this unconscious : to kill becomes to settle accounts (in vengeance) and to commit suicide. In the second part, Kubrick gives us a vision of the Tet offensive in 1968, hence of the dramatic turning point of the Vietnam War that will eventually mean the American defeat. There we find again some of the characters of the first part and a few others and Kubrick describes how the killing instinct of these Marines has become the only survival strategy they have. They can survive and even remain sane because they kill, blindly and without thinking. Kubrick even goes further by showing that this leads to deranged personalities. One case is only quoted, but the main hero is confronted, right at the end, no longer with the blind reflex, but with the necessity to kill in order to respect some deep belief he has (suffering is not justified on a moral level) and the necessity to kill willingly, out of a conscious resolution. This leads to two possibilities : either the Marine is an animal and he will let the wounded person die, hence suffer, thus showing that he has no more moral values, or he will kill just as if it were an ordinary and simple action like drinking, eating or anything else, thus showing that he has no more moral values, no sense of perspective. And that's where the film gets its unity : either the Marine has become a robot for whom killing is as simple as breathing, or the conditioning is in contradiction with ethical values, making the reflex difficult if not impossible. Killing becomes then a regressive attitude and the film can end up on Disneyland famous song : M.I.C.K.E.Y.M.O.U.S.E. And this last image of Marines coming back from their exterminating mission for the night and singing that song, shows how deep war can make people sink. The last scene is poignant and revealing. A masterpiece. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.
Rating:
Summary: One Of Kubricks Best
Review: This is a very cold and accurate deception of the Vietnam war.I think this is Kubricks second best film(the first being 2001).This the only war movie I have seen that shows the soldiers in bootcamp,so it gives you a view of all the elements the soldiers have to go through...
Rating: 
Summary: Inconsistent
Review: "Full Metal Jacket" is really two movies in one. The first half's theme is how raw recruits are molded into lean, mean, fightin' machines while the second half's theme shows how war is hell. If there's a REAL plot to this movie, it escapes me. If Kubrick had made this movie along the lines of "Tribes," he might've gotten somewhere. Instead, he made a boring, uneven film that wastes your time and takes you nowhere.Although the boot camp portion of this film was very funny, the transition from boot camp to the jungles of Nam is too abrupt. An established director like Kubrick should've recognized that this was poor cinema syntax. The second half of this film is a real bore! There's more talk than action and there's no closure. Kubrick apparently couldn't decide whether to make this a pseudo-documentary film or a mocking political commentary. Either way, he failed miserably. After watching this film, my reaction was SO WHAT?! FMJ has some good moments but it's not worth the price of admission. If you want to see a really good film about the Viet Nam War, check out "Casualties of War." Unlike, FMJ, it's got a good plot and the acting is solid.
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Summary: possibly the best NAM movie ever!
Review: Could be the best nam movie ever. The other two contenders are Apocalypse Now and Platoon. I cant decide which are the best of the three. THey are the Holy Trinity of Nam films. I have not seen the Deer Hunter yet so dont kill me. This movie amazes me. The first half boot camp sequence is soo reall. The drill sargeant in this movie is amazing, his opening speech to his troops is one of the best scenes in movie history. Vincent Donofrio stood out in this portion of the film. I dont see why people complain about the 2nd half. I thought i equalled the first. THe 2nd half details what Private Joker goes through in Nam. Matthew Modines performance was smart in this section. I loved the dialouges in the 2nd half, when the general explains that "within every gook is an American trying to get out" is classic. lots of other ironic and humourous dialouges. This movie succeeds in both halfs contrary to what many reviews say. Kubricks use of music like in all his movies is unmatched. U need to see this movie, and then buy it. It is a truly underatted classic.
Rating:
Summary: A great film for Kubrick fans or marines
Review: Full Metal Jacket is actually like two different films. The first film focuses on marine boot-camp training on Parris Island, South Carolina. Here Drill Seargeant Hartman (Played by Lee Ermey, a former D.I himself) turns these men, with force and foul language, from Maggots to Marines. One private, Leonard Lawrence, is harrased by Hartman before he decides to take matters into his own hands. The main charcter in this part and the second part, which is Vietnam itself, is Matthew Modine as Private Joker In the second part, Modine is a war corespondant for Stars and Stripes during the Tet Offensive. The end of the film may surprise you. All in all, both parts of this film are excellent. And the film is amazing, entertaining and halirous. But a word of advice: For people who have been watching too much Barney the Dinosaur, due to the violence and language of the film, this is not for you. But for people eager to learn about Vietnam, people who want to see how marines are trained (at least in the Vietnam era) or for fans of Stanley Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket is for you!
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Summary: CLOSE AS YOU WILL GET TO THE REAL THING
Review: Comming from a US MARINES view who has been throught the 3 months of hell, I would say of all the movies I have seen this is the closest you will ever get to seeing what it is like to be a Marine. Unless, you join and go through the actual bootcamp! Gysgt Hartman is a great actor, and knows his part, I guess after all, he was a actuall Marine Drill Instructor!!! If you are thinking about joining the Marines or you want to see what we had to do to earn the title Marine. Then, watch this film. It is a great classic movie.
Rating:
Summary: The best Movie I've ever Seen!
Review: this movie is the best marine corps movie i've ever seen! the bootcamp part of the movie is so real. It reminds my family members of there boot camp experience..
Rating:
Summary: Like Firing a Glass Rifle...
Review: If Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" stopped after its harrowing boot camp sequence, it'd be a 5-star masterpiece. The problem is the film's two-part structure. The first story it tells is such a compelling and fresh take on familiar war-movie material, there's no way the second half can live up to it. Matthew Modine stars as Joker and serves as the narrarator. The first sequence takes place in boot camp, where Joker and the other recruits learn what it means to be a modern warrior. R. Lee Ermey, as the DI, completely dominates this half; his character gets almost all the movie's best lines and is such an original and powerful character, the story never quite recovers after his exit. The boot camp scenes have a nightmarish quality; most effective is the lecture where Ermey praises the sharpshooting skills of former Marines such as Lee Harvey Oswald. I can't think of another film with such a boot camp setting that matches "Full Metal Jacket" in intensity- not "Sands of Iwo Jima," certainly not the otherwise enjoyable comedy "Biloxi Blues." Then the movie moves to Vietnam in time for the Tet Offensive and the Marine battle at Hue City, and despite its increasing violence, the story begins to sag and feel a bit repetitive. Joker, now a combat reporter, meets up with a rifle squad for the fighting at Hue. The combat scenes have a grungy veracity, and when the troops finally enter the city and meet a sniper, there's a growing terror and suspense... unfortunately, the payoff scene runs much to long, with a pat and disappointing moral quandary for Joker and his fellow Marines. It's as if Kubrick wasn't sure his themes of dehumanization and brutality have been slammed home enough. But believe me, they have. Still, "Full Metal Jacket" has to be considered one of the best war movies. Instead of merely focusing on the action, it examines the psychology of the battlefield mind. The Marines are close to the edge, and their comaraderie borders on the psychotic. One in particular laments that back home, he won't have anyone around worthy enough to shoot. Very eerie and effective. Standouts besides the amazing Ermey include Vincent D'Onofrio as a dim-witted screw-up nicknamed "Pyle" and Adam Baldwin (from "My Bodyguard" and "Independence Day") as the ultra-mean Animal Mother.
Rating:
Summary: Full Metal Jacket
Review: This movie is worth owning for the first half of the film. Lee Ermy is outstanding as GySgt Hartman, and the boot camp scenes are just like being there (I was). Unfortunately the second half of the movie is a let down. The battle is supposed to portray the 1968 battle for Hue City, the scenery is very good, and reminiscent of the real location but the actors do a terrible job of portraying the combat troops. They seem to be more of an armed mob running around with no direction and expending massive amounts of ammunition for no purpose. Those of you that think this is an accurate portrayal of Vietnam are sadly mistaken.
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