Rating: 
Summary: Intense drama of the Vietnam War
Review: The story of one young soldier from basic training through his harrowing tour in Vietnam. Frighteningly realistic, this film is one of the best war movies ever made in my opinion. At once emotional, humorous, sickening, and scary Full Metal Jacket is certainly one of Kubrick's best. END
Rating:
Summary: The Long-Timers
Review: Buried (ritually?) in the credits of this movie is the real reason for its unseemly bifurcation of plot and story. Readers of Gustave Halbert's "The Short-Timers" will be entertained by the most realistic portrayal of Parris Island Marine Corps recruit training but disappointed when, during the "war" half of the movie, Kubrick shifts Joker's climactic "murder" scene to be one where he confronts the wounded teenage Viet Cong woman who has decimated his squad with accurate sniper fire. The realism of the first half of the movie would lead us to expect not one heartbeat of hesitation--thus there is no real tension in this scene. Too bad he didn't retain Halbert's dilemma of having Joker face killing his own man who had been repeatedly riddled by the sniper's bullets. Nonetheless, reviewers are correct in describing the film as a series of disconnected episodes, actually a patchwork of scenes that simply represent Vietnam cliches and touchstones of war's insanity. In this respect, it really is more faithful to the incomprehensible realities of Vietnam than a hackneyed naturalistic rendition, or the Vietnam incarnation of "High Noon," Oliver Stone's "Platoon."
Rating: 
Summary: 5 star movie, but this edition loses it 1 star.
Review: One of the great movies of all time. Essentially it is one story for the first 1/2 of the film and another for the 2nd half. But the two stories work so well together it is all the more effective.
The cinematography is beautiful and the acting and dialogue is superb. My only probelm is that this digital remastered version is full frame and not widescreen. Will be waiting for a proper edition, remastered and widescreen.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: First of all....many Marines say that the first 30 minutes of the movie about boot camp is THE most accurate depiction of Parris Island in cinematic history. And of course Lee Ermey himself being a former Marine drill instructor tops it all....his profanity laced tirades are totally outrageous. Second of all, the latter half of the movie deals with a subject not covered in Vietnam movies, a squad getting lost and having to face a lone sniper. Its a radical departure to be sure, but Kubrick in his usual cinematic mastery makes it very gripping. So if you like Vietnam movies that are a bit different but still as strong as Hamburger Hill and Platoon, check this one out....its fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: Up there with Platoon & Saving Private Ryan
Review: This is really two movies in one. The first half covers the slow descent into insanity of one Pvt. Leonard Lawrence "Pyle" (Vincent d'Onofrio) as he and other recruits endure the gruelling boot camp overseen by Sgt. Hardman (R. Lee Ermey). The last half of the film covers the Vietnam Tet Offensive. The underlying theme throughout the film is how war deprives us of our humanity. Stanley Kubrick paces the film well and gives the war in Vietnam a different look unseen in other related films. The all too familiar jungle scenes are replaced with the "concrete jungles" of war-torn Saigon. I read that it was shot entirely in England, for Kubrick hates to venture far from his London home. The only qualms I have with the DVD is with the picture format. Instead of widescreen, we're stuck with the sole option of pan and scan. Thus, the four star rating. Maybe Kubrick viewed it in standard format and decided he liked it better. Who knows. This is still a great movie and worth the viewing.
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: So Good It Is Frightening
Review: It is increasingly difficult for younger people to understand the 60s and what happened in America. The catalyst for change was the Viet Nam War. On the one hand, we had a society that was chafing under the paradigms of the 1950s and the residual effects of the black and white world which we tried to create in the aftermath of World War II and the ascendancy of communism. On the other hand, we had a generation looking to change the way we perceive the world, including how we look at enemies, and whether people even truly were our enemies. In some ways the Viet Nam War became a surreal alternate reality where our soldiers received a huge cultural shock leaving the relatively cloistered Disneyland of America. The difficulty becomes capturing not the reality of Viet Nam, but the feeling of Viet Nam. Stanley Kubrick did exactly that with "Full Metal Jacket."
There are two portions to this movie, with the second part of the movie having sub-parts. In the first portion of the movie we meet the principal character we will follow into Viet Nam, Private J.T. "Joker" Davis. Joker is the observer of the indoctrination of new Marine recruits, where pampered civilian sons are turned into fighting men. R. Lee Ermey established a milestone in military character portrayals by his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. He is mean and tough, but he is that way because he knows that the reality of war requires mean and tough men. Unfortunately, Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence (chillingly played by Vincent D'Onofrio) is unable to tolerate the stress, and snaps in a very violent, shocking, way. Thus ends basic training and Private Joker's transition to Viet Nam.
The transition from basic training to Viet Nam is instantaneous, with no discussion of the aftermath of Private Gomer Pyle's actions. However, as I pointed out earlier, consider the shock that these young men faced as they went from the black and white, sheltered life of a citizen of the United States to a corrupt country where death was around every corner. The culture shock is difficult to convey, and yet the disorientation in the transition from the first part of the movie to the second part makes a good attempt at having the audience experience the feeling, even if in a relatively benign way.
The second part of the movie explores what happens when people who have been deeply into American culture are faced with the reality of combat. Private Joker must confront combat and the result of combat head on while being a pacifist at his core. However, even his peaceful nature can not stand by while a vengeful and ferocious enemy is killing his comrades. Private Joker is faced with mass graves and the reality of the war of attrition and the senseless violence of some Americans, though the enemy was just as ruthless when the opportunity arose.
The movie uses the 1968 Tet Offensive as a backdrop for a series of intense combat scenes leading up to a confrontation between Private Joker's squad and an unseen enemy. The violence in this series of scenes is graphic and simultaneously poignant. Death in combat is never pretty, and Stanley Kubrick did his best to depict death in all its horrific detail. If anyone was ever tempted to glorify combat this movie should be mandatory watching.
The final scene in this movie is a confrontation between Private Joker and an enemy sniper. The moment is incredible because there are many feelings. There is fear. There is the sudden realization that the enemy is only a little different from us; young and frightened. There is the desire to not have to kill the enemy, to wish that circumstances could be otherwise. There are more feelings, many more, for an empathetic viewer.
Knowledgeably viewers will not mistake "Full Metal Jacket" for a documentary, or even being more than passingly factual. What this movie does do is give viewers the feeling of the era, the feeling of being a soldier in a war that many, and perhaps ultimately most, did not want to fight. This war helped America realize that World War II was not happening again, that black and white was gray, and that we too were different, though we were realizing it all too slowly. Of all the Viet Nam War related movies that I have watched, and I have seen all but one of significance, this movie seems to me to best portray how we felt, whether we like to remember that feeling or not.
Rating:
Summary: war is hell
Review: This is one of my all time faves. I loved the war scenes and had to follow this flick because it is gripping.
Rating:
Summary: Kubrick's last best movie.
Review: It is strange that Kubrick would choose to revisit the theme of war, considering that he had already conquered the genre with the classic controversial `Paths of Glory' and had done a variation of the theme for `Spartacus', the war comedy `Dr. Strangelove', `Full Metal Jacket', a war film, seems an unlikely career choice, given that Kubrick had not made a film in 7 years since `The Shining', this happens to be his second last film, made in the UK London docks in 1987, it would be 12 years before Kubrick would film again, the somewhat average `Eyes Wide Shut', making this probably his last best film.
FMJ is a well made war film full of interesting characters (lots of them) and stunning set pieces - Boot camp and the final war torn city sniper search being the most memorable, FMJ is not exactly original, but the fact that when Kubrick does it right then it usually turns out great, this is another Vietnam war film, that is very good, period. Even though R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman has almost the exact same lines as Louis Gossett Jr., playing Sgt. Emil Foley in `An Officer and a Gentleman', you will watch him in FMJ more than turning to the Richard Gere vehicle. Even though you have seen it all before, it is still worth watching because the set pieces are just done well and the acting is quite good, most noticeably, D'Onofrio as Pyle, cracking under the pressure of drill training and eventually turning on his own squad.
FMJ is a two part story, Boot Camp and then War, the newly fresh Marine Corps recruits becoming death, deciding fate, taking action, suffering consequences, `The Draft' a prison for the recruit who should not be there, section 8s everywhere, killers who do not know why they are in Vietnam thrust into the Tet offensive head-on, most of them have peace symbols but will they kill?... or be killed
Although quite violent and bloody Kubrick mostly chooses psychology. There is not much to it other than to show the horror of war from the viewpoint that it is just such a mixed bag, from those who are afraid to pull the trigger, to full blown adult criminal sadists leading the men to victory. Kubrick captures Vietnam quite well and Full Metal Jacket is certainly an important film in any collection, as it will be watched time and time again for the high production values and strong acting. Although it might not carry that much of a message like `Paths of Glory' did, it certainly doesn't shy away from showing us the horror of war.
As a note this is a PAN and SCAN movie, shot in 1.85 : 1, it was shown in this aspect ratio in the US and then in 1.66 : 1 in Europe. Kurbick did not want to release this in widescreen or even flat. He filmed it specifically for the video market and television's PAN AND SCAN.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Movie, But DVD Issue
Review: Although the U.S. theatrical aspect ratio of this movie was 1.85:1, while the DVD aspect ratio is 4:3, this is not a "Pan&Scan" DVD. In other words, almost none of the original theatrical image has been removed for exhibition on a 4:3 television screen. The film negative aspect ratio was 1.37:1 (almost 4:3), and for U.S. theatrical exhibition, the image was "matted" (partially covered from the top down and bottom up) to produce a 1.85:1 image. For exhibition on a 4:3 television screen, the "mattes" have simply been removed. So the DVD exhibition actually shows 25.9 percent more image than the theatrical exhibition. Director Stanley Kubrick reportedly filmed many of his movies this way so that the theatrical image wouldn't be butchered on television by the "Pan&Scan" process, and (not reportedly) because he didn't foresee the current state of the home video market, where consumers prefer movies presented in their theatrical aspect ratio, rather than in a ratio in which the image will fill up their 4:3 television screen (if there is a difference). This DVD presents the movie in the aspect ratio in which director Stanley Kubrick wanted people to see it on a 4:3 television, but it does not present the movie in the aspect ratio in which Kubrick wanted people to see it in a U.S. movie theater (for that, the DVD would have to present the movie in a "matted widescreen" format). If you're okay with that, enjoy!
|
