Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Wonderful character development!

Fantastic!

An absolute waste of money

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Stanley Kubrick is hit or miss with me and this one is a hit. The 1st half of the movie when they are in basic training is an easy 10 stars but once the movie transitions to the Vietnam War itself, it falls flat at times. The movie is a quote machine especially from R. Lee Ermey's iconic drill sergeant character with stuff like:"Your ass looks like 150 pounds of chewed up bubble gum""5'9"??? I didn't know they stacked sh!# that high""Give your heart to Jesus but your asses belong to the Marine Corp"But the quote that would be his demise was the infamous "What is your major malfunction numbnuts?" The rest of the film is following Private joker as he photographs the war. I see it as anti-war film with Kubrick showing how the military turns people into killers and then just the brutality and horrors of war. He does all of this this with a kind of twisted sense of humor.

Stanley Kubrick was already a legend when he made Full Metal Jacket- a war movie. The film is divided into two parts. The first focuses on a bunch of new recruits in boot camp and the other takes place smack in the middle of a warzone. Full of images that stick in mind and some great use of music Full Metal Jacket is Kubrick through and through. From the long takes to the nihilistic overtones there is a stamp of authority of the master filmmaker. The acting, as is the case with every Kubrick film is sublime especially Mathew Modine and Vincent D' Onofrio. If you want to see an auteur at work Full Metal Jacket is a film you should check out.

A smart move from the legend that was Stanley Kubrick. We've all seen many war films, a genre that is well explored from a variety of different conflicts. Full Metal Jacket however chooses to go behind the scenes and focus on the training process that changes well intentioned men into trained lethal killers. You could easily split this in half and have two separate films, the first half being more psychologically charged whereas the latter showcasing the brutality of warfare. A ridiculously serious drill sergeant practically bullying a trainee marine so harshly that it slowly turns him into an unstable psychopath. That right there, was some really good psychology and made the film so much more interesting. Sure the Vietnam War scenes were depicted with a substantial amount of fire, blood and guns but it was the first half that really captivated me. Vincent D'Onofrio was the stand out for me, both convincing and expressive through his face. Matthew Modine was good, probably his best performance. Lee Ermey deserves recognition just for somehow managing to not lose his voice from all the shouting. Characterisation was present, perhaps not fully fleshed out as I would like but was just enough for me to care about them. Yet again though, it's the technical marvel that wins...Stanley Kubrick. His directing style is so damn flawless. The nice clean long takes, actors looking directly into the camera, slow motion deaths (particularly in the sniper shootout)...he is just phenomenal. Script was sharp as well. A great section of dialogue where our lead character wears a peace badge and a helmet that says "born to kill" for which he describes represents the duality of man. That really stuck with me. So whilst it might feel like two separate films (due to that ridiculously quick transition), it's hard not to appreciate everything that's shown to us. Another hit from Mr. Kubrick.

One of Stanley Kubrick's latest films, Gustav Hasford's Short Film adaptation of Novels, has received many awards for being an Oscar, while he received heavy criticism from the Full Metal Jacket, American army and American nationalists. The legal dimension of the war in Kubirck's "The Power of the Path" Strangelove examines the political dimension of the war in the film, examining the psychology of the soldiers and the background of the war in this film. Kubrick's anti militarist stance Kubrick's battle scenes in this film Unlike other Vietnam films, the background of the battle during the training of newly joined soldiers in the city, not in the forests of Vietnam, but also in the battlefield of Full Metal Jacket is to be remembered as a cult film provide.