SummaryThe story of an 18-year-old marine recruit named Private Joker - from his carnage-and-machismo boot camp to his climactic involvement in the heavy fighting in Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive. [Warner Bros.]
SummaryThe story of an 18-year-old marine recruit named Private Joker - from his carnage-and-machismo boot camp to his climactic involvement in the heavy fighting in Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive. [Warner Bros.]
May be the best war movie ever made...Different is Kubrick's artistry and control, and his almost perverse, but philosophically progressive, refusal to impart to chaos a coherent narrative contour.
A masterpiece across the board.
Kubrick crafts a brilliant and powerful war film with exceptional cast and filmmaking. A sobering experience, the first half shows the result of stripping away individuality and turning a person into a weapon, and the second half displays what these dehumanized men become. The climax has gorgeous cinematography and impressive, commendable special effects. The film's characters, both in the first half and in the latter, are amazing, with D'Onofrio, Ermey, Modine, and Baldwin giving incredible performances. The film is shocking, gut-wrenching, though-provoking, poignant, nuanced and complex, and has far more to unpack than can fit in this review.
Note: Both halves of the film are equally phenomenal. Some people aren't fond of the second half because it is a shift in tone and subject matter, but that doesn't change the quality.
It is a masterpiece, Kubrick's best film, the best war film of all time, and the best movie I have ever seen.
(P.S. If you don't like this movie, I don't like you.)
As brutally unsparing as "Platoon" was, it was ultimately warm and embracing. Kubrick's film is about as embracing as a full-metal-jacketed bullet in the gut. [29 June 1987]
A perversely fascinating movie--one that answers no questions, offers no hope and has little meaning. In a way this is perfect for what the film has to say about war, but you find yourself numbed and apathetic as the film progresses.
I like Stanley Kubrick, and I love his films, especially 2001, Barry Lyndon, Paths of Glory, Dr Strangelove and this, his penultimate film. Full Metal Jacket is a harrowing, violent and foul-mouthed film, yet it is superbly done. True, one or two parts may lack tropical realism, but the atmosphere the film creates is extraordinary. The film looks excellent with skillful cinematography. The script is very well crafted and does have a sense of realism, while the story is compelling with the transition from the training at the camp to the bombed Vietamnesse city smoothly done. I am with those who thinks the first half is better than the second, but that is not to say the second half isn't good, it is more than good, but the first half really was outstanding. Kubrick's direction as always is superb, as is the acting especially Lee Ermey and Vincent D'Onofrio. All in all, one of Kubrick's best and one of the best war movies you will see. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Overrated is the word. Not bad. Definitely not bad, but it's quality degrades as the movie goes on. It starts out as a vicious, surreal, and engagingly strange vision when it's in the boot camp stage of things, but when the characters go to war it starts to fall apart.
Full Metal Jacket: Just a first this is my opinion only don’t come after me and kill me. Ok now I’m going to say it right now I had high hopes for this movie saying it was a masterpiece and that R Lee Ermey’s performance is amazing, well THEY GOT HALF OF THAT RIGHT. The part they got right was R Lee Ermey’s performance because oh my god, starting at the 2 minute mark until the 45 minute mark this movie was a masterpiece and it was all because of him, I know it wasn’t supposed to be funny but it is because the **** that comes out of his mouth is crazy. If you want to really know just look up the first 6 minutes of the film. Now after that the film just nose dives in quality big time. First of all it’s when after a scene that is supposed to be dramatic and stuff when they cut to the next scene the people making the movie decide to put happy fun time music, WHY and it’s not just one time it happens multiple times and it’s not like they don’t have sad music, because at the end they play sad music and at that scene you actually feel the emotion of the scene like your supposed to. But that doesn’t matter when most of the scenes just drag I even went in my head and said out loud that is when they should have started the scene that’s when they should have cut the scene, but no they make it go on and on with characters I don’t care for. Overall I had so much hype for this movie but it ended up being bad, if it wasn’t for R Lee Ermey’s performance I would have given this movie a toilet paper rating but I’m not. Ranking Bad.
A film that does not contain any true emotions, good acting, or any humanity in itself. Even though the very point of it is to show how brutal the war in Vietnam was, it does not reach its cause in any way.