Movie Review: Full Metal Jacket

For my first real post, I will begin with one of my many loves in this cruel world, watching movies. I am a huge movie buff; I love watching quality movies about symbolism and with excellent acting performances. My favorite directors range from Quentin Tarantino, The Coen Brothers, and Tim Burton. Many of my ideas about life come from the interpretation of the many movies I have seen, as they are one art form people can use to portray their beliefs and views about the world. My movie reviews are there to portray my interpretation and overall enjoyment of them. My opinions are not final; however I stand by them with an iron fist.

'Full Metal Jacket' is yet another excellent work done by a well respected director, the late great Stanley Kubrick. I have already seen many of his other works, such as 'Eyes Wide Shut' and 'Clockwork Orange.' Kubrick is a master of symbolism in his movies; in fact, many of his movies have been over symbolized because of this fact. This aside, his directing prowess is well known, and his movies are well regarded. Kubrick sadly dies in 1999, shortly after 'Eyes Wide Shut' came out, and on that day we lost one of the greatest directorial minds we ever had.

'Full Metal Jacket' is a two part look at the effect that the Vietnam War had on the US Marines. The first part shows the basic training of Marine recruits supervised by the punishing Sargent Hartman. His cruel and harassing treatment of the recruits was short of criminal, and it gave an excellent satirical view of how training camps for the army were viewed at the time. Hartman is played masterfully by R. Lee Ermey. It followed closely the exploits of Private Pyle, who was continuously punished by the Sargent for his mistakes. His treatment leaked out of my screen into my living room, and I felt the Sargent's unheeding criticism and Pyle's outcast from the other privates as if I were experiencing it myself. The final scene of this part of the movie was surprising, even though the effects of the training camp made this outcome less surprising.

The second part of 'Full Metal Jacket' follows Private Joker, who we met during the basic training part of the movie, as a reporter for the Vietnam newspaper Stars and Stripes as he travels with a US Corp throughout Vietnam during the Tet offensive. This section of the movie shows Kubrick's masterful use of scenery and pacing to portray a certain feeling to the audience. Here, the eye opening camera pans of the Vietnamese landscape is beautiful yet horrifying when you seen the destruction of the war. In addition, following the Corps throughout the hostile countryside leaves you on the edge of your seat, knowing that right around the corner could be a land mine, hidden sniper, or entire building full of fearless enemy soldiers (and in most instances, there is). In addition, the intimidating environment gives you a closer relationship with the US Marines you are experiencing it with, and while only knowing the characters for a few minutes, you feel like you have know them your entire life and are emotionally strained when something happens to them.

Overall, the combination of these two sections of 'Full Metal Jacket' portrays the horrors and futility of the Vietnam War through the strains and heartbreak of the US Marines. I really felt I was there, and it works perfectly as a satire and criticism of the useless war. I was one of the Marines in basic training and one of the soldiers scared in foreign lands when watching this movie, and that's what made it so powerful. It wasn't my favorite Kubrick movie and in my opinions was very different from his other movies in certain ways. However, and this being an excellent example to Kubrick's directorial prowess, I really enjoyed the movie. It has become one of my favorite war movies, up there with 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Platoon,' and I would recommend it to both Kubrick and war movie buffs.