Full Metal Jacket

Rating:
Summary: very real
Review: Full Metal Jacket is almost to real.The boot camp scenes with R.Lee Ermey who was a real life drill instructor for the Marines are unbeleivable,the things that he says will make you laugh but know that what is going on on the screen is what really goes on in boot camps maybe not as extreme any more because they cant hit anymore but they yell,they use extreme foul language and crude insults,they break spirits,and they motivate.You may think that R.Lee Ermey gets what he deserves at the end of the first half of the movie but realize that he was just doing what he was supposed to do and the mental torture he puts the recruit(D'nofrio) through he humiliates him,he turns the whole Platoon on him,but thats only to motivate him so don't think the Ermeys charater gets what he deserves because it's all part of the Marine Core training.Now the second half is some of the most unbeleivabley tense,funny,and just horrific scenes of war ever on screen.Now this is a movie that will stick with you especially the first half just beware.Very disturbing,violent,sad,and funny all at the same time hell it's alot like the war itself.

Rating:
Summary: perfection
Review: this is my all time favorite war movie. it is powerful and shocking. i think everyone should see this and get a good cry.

Rating:
Summary: Full Metal Jacket
Review: The first half of the movie was great and I'd rate it the full 5-stars. Unfortunately, the second half (after boot camp) was quite poor and I'd give it 1 star. Overall, on average I gave it 3.

As one who actually went through Marine Corps boot camp in 1966, I found the performance of R. Lee Ermey real enough to set the hair up on the back of my neck. It took my back ovver 30 years and opened many memories (some goos and some not so much so) but the portrayal of Marine boot camp was as real as it gets. Once you get past the boot camp part, the movie, unfortunately, falls flat. Kubrik's portrayal of combat in Vietnam was, well, ludicrous and, having participated in the Hue City campaign. I know.

Rating:
Summary: Hmm... think, think, think...
Review: I remember back in my Senior year of high school (only two years back), I've read and heard about how great this movie is. One of my friends in particular loved this movie. And on the back cover of the DVD, some critic hailed this as "The Best War Movie Ever" (quote may not be exact). And I've read that about how critics call this the best war movie. And, yes, I've seen other war movies like "Apocalypse Now," "We Were Soldiers," "Platoon," "Saving Private Ryan," etc., etc. So, naturally, I figured it'd be high time to finally view the movie for myself. I caught it on tv one night and Leonard Maltin came on and praised the movie for all it's worth. My expectations rose. After the movie... I was rather... puzzled... and a bit... disappointed...

Not that I didn't enjoy the movie. As just about everyone says here, the movie is two stories that talk of dehumanization that war (not just Vietnam in particular) brings about to some. The first half revolves around boot camp, and the second half is the war itself... Blah, blah, blah... I'm just repeating what everyone already said... but continue on.

R. Lee Ermey plays the hard-ass drill instructor Sgt. Hartman. He just about shouts put downs that would disgruntle or sickingly humor anyone who's anyone. His basic job is to train Marines to fight and kill. But he gets his kicks by shouting obscenities to his men, especially one in particular named Gomer Pyle (played by Vincent D'Onofrio), a lazy fat guy that can't do much right. His laziness results in punishment for everybody else. So the rest of the men take their anger out on Gomer in a very disturbing scene involving bars of soap. Then... Gomer goes crazy. He kills his drill instructor as well as himself.

Watching the first half of the film, I was led to believe that it would focus primarily on that subject, but then the film rapidly shifts to Vietnam. Now the central character is "Joker" (Matthew Modine). Then again, the movie is told from Joker's perspective, but he is rarely seen in the first half. He's now a journalist working for Stars and Stripes and he is then sent out into combat to get a good story, later to be in actual combat for the first time. From here, this section of the film seems out of place and the Vietnam setting doesn't necessarily look quite like Vietnam. Sure, the gunfights are loaded with action and explosions, but it's... unconvincing. Partly due to the fact that the movie wasn't filmed in Vietnam (or a similar locale), but rather at some studio in England. And at times, it seems that Kubrick was trying to mimick Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (one scene had a film crew making a documentary of the war... just like in "Apocalypse Now"). But unlike how "Apocalypse Now" was primarily in the jungle, "Full Metal Jacket" is in towns that lay in ruins.

In one sequence, the reckless gunfire of the soldiers fire recklessly in the same direction a man of their own runs towards. I wonder how lucky that one soldier (among few later) wasn't hit by ANY of those bullets...

Aside from these minor qualms, the action is still brilliant... just don't expect "Private Ryan"-style.

Joker's story is his boot-camp training coming to full effect in the second act. It develops slowly over time as he experiences the deaths of soldiers (including a friend of his), but then develops at the end when he kills a Vietnamese woman. He faced quite a conflict, but he managed to pull through.

The showing of the dehumanization of soldiers isn't particularily anything new. "Apocalypse Now" showed that, only better (even "Platoon"). And I felt that Kubrick was trying hard to make his own version of Coppola's classic. The only thing Kubrick pulled off well was the first half of this movie. The harshness of boot camp at the time and what effect it had on one person. It may have been exaggerated, but it still shows this character's slow descent into madness triggered by the drill instructor (in truth, he might've just packed up and left rather than kill his drill instructor and himself). And R. Lee Ermey steals the movie even from its main character (Joker).

The movie kinda misled me and the Vietnam setting wasn't too convincing. "We Were Soldiers" was filmed in California (I think...), and it looked more like Vietnam than how "Full Metal Jacket" portrayed the place. But nonetheless, Kubrick still gave one heck of a war movie, even if it didn't focus on the war itself (which it didn't). Rather, the focus is what war has on the human mind.

Watch, but don't expect something better than "Apocalypse Now" or "Saving Private Ryan."

Rating:
Summary: Movie gets 5 Stars the DVD gets 0 stars
Review: I can't beleive they released this full screen version rather then 16:9. Totally lame DVD - But what a great movie!!!