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Full Metal Jacket
Warner Bros.


9.1

based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 35 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R

Starring Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, Kevyn Major Howard, and Ed O'Ross

The 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.]

GENRE(S):	War
WRITTEN BY:	Gustav Hasford (also novel The Short Timers) Michael Herr Stanley Kubrick
DIRECTED BY:	Stanley Kubrick
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 29, 1999 Video: May 6, 1991 Theatrical: June 26, 1987
RUNNING TIME:	116 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1987 for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Elliptical, full of subtle inner rhymes...and profoundly moving, this is the most tightly crafted Kubrick film since "Dr. Strangelove," as well as the most horrific; the first section alone accomplishes most of what "The Shining" failed to do.

100

Newsweek Jack Kroll

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]

100

The New York Times Vincent Canby

Kubrick's harrowing, beautiful and characteristically eccentric new film about Vietnam, is going to puzzle, anger and (I hope) fascinate audiences as much as any film he has made to date... A film of immense and very rare imagination.

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

What makes the film stunning is less its metaphorical scheme than its cinematic style. Always a matter of flowing camera movement, Kubrick has photographed much of the action with long "traveling shots" that capture time and space as a seamless whole, not fractured into the bits and pieces of standard editing techniques. [26 June 1987]

100

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott

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.

100

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The most eloquent and exacting vision of the war to date... Inspired with technique rather than overblown with it, Kubrick, the filmmaker's filmmaker, lays one on you.

100

USA Today Mike Clark

A contender for the year's best film.

100

Time Richard Corliss

A technical knockout. [29 June 1987]

Washington Post Rita Kempley

We've seen it all before, most recently in "Gardens of Stone," most romantically in "An Officer and a Gentleman," but never more elegantly than here as Kubrick sustains the athletic ballet of obstacle courses and white-glove inspections for a breathtaking 40 minutes.

Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson

In a superb cast of mostly unknowns -- with the exception of Matthew Modine and Dorain Harewood -- D'Onofrio, who put on 60 pounds for this pivotal role, and Ermey are exceptional. [26 June 1987]

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

An intense, schematic, superbly made Vietnam War drama.

Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

The film has undeniable power, but it's an unusual and unsettling power, a product of a collision between red-hot material and the cool serenity with which Kubrick observes and accepts it. [26 June 1987]

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Judy Stone

The concluding image of men silhouetted against the dying flares of explosives, as they march to the raucous refrain of the Mickey Mouse Club theme, is masterly, but leaves a viewer curiously discomfited. Whereas "Platoon" shattered civilian complacency about that war, Full Metal Jacket is merely numbing. [26 June 1987]

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The footage on the Paris Island obstacle course is powerful. But Full Metal Jacket is uncertain where to go, and the movie's climax, which Kubrick obviously intends to be a mighty moral revelation, seems phoned in from earlier war pictures.

The New Yorker Pauline Kael

What happened to the Kubrick who used to slip in sly, subtle jokes and little editing tricks? This may be his worst movie. He probably believes he's numbing us by the power of his vision, but he's actually numbing us by its emptiness. [13 July 1987, p.75]

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

After years of preparation in the hands of a man celebrated for his penetration and style, the picture adds almost nothing to our knowledge of its subject and adds it in a manner almost devoid of visual distinction. [27 July 1987]

Wall Street Journal Julie Salamon

By most standards of conventional film narrative, this movie is a mess. [25 June, 1987, p.22(E)]

The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 35 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Samtam90 gave it a9:
The first half of the movie is Kubrick's masterwork, not even the sheer brilliance of Shining and A Clockwork Orange can come close to it. The second half, unfortunately, can't even remotely compete, as i find it too slow and some of the scenes are too much detached from the main plot. So, i give a full 10 for the first part and an 8 for the second (i'd like to remember the GREAT ending).

John R. gave it a9:
Awesome movie, with a terrific opening sections at boot camp. That keeps the viewers in no matter what happens the rest of the movie. The war might have seemed a little slow at times, but it portrayed the brutality very well. Great war film, definitely recommended to watch if you have not seen it.

Jake V. B. gave it a10:
I just finished reading a book on Kubrick. The chapter on FMJ was interesting in pointing out certain scenes where I missed some or most of Kubrick's point. In the prostittue/theater scene, I realized that only in the widescreen version of the film could you see certain background visuals. At present FMJ is available in letterboxed format from Warner Bros. only in HD DVD, which is where the DVD technology is headed. They (Congress is included in "they.") want us to start all over again in both the player and disc. It's really unfair. The picture is much better, but, using FMJ as an example, I've bought it in VHS, then DVD, then again in 5.1 SS DVD, and would buy it again in letterboxed format, but switching to a new DVD format is asking too much. Apparently, we're missing a good bit in this modified version of the film. I've emailed WB's site, pleading for a widescreen release in the present DVD format and maybe they would if enough people showed an interest. This excellent, very intelligent and challenging film deserves release in its proper format without having to buy a $1,000.00 DVD player. Among comtemporary filmmakers, Kubrick was without peers and I would rank him above Welles, though I'm sure this comment will cause many film buffs to go ape.

Casey S. gave it a9:
Full Metal Jacket can not be compared to any movie of its era. Kubrick's portrayel of the two parts of war; preparation and battle are personified well. Of equal importance is the music choice chosen for the soundtrack, namely the Mickey Mouse song as the movie closes.

Brian M gave it a9:
It's very rare to find a movie which simultaneously brutalizes and humanizes its victims; Full Metal Jacket is one such film. While the vulgarity and machismo that permeate the film can be a deterrent to some viewers, very few films before or since have shown the transformative process of war as effectively as Kubrick has with this work of art.

Matux M. gave it a10:
I totally totally agree with Loi Real. I coulnd't have put it better. I just saw the movie and i think i cant sleep because the sympathy i feel for Pyle.I wanna burn those others alive.And Joker? He looks like a loser but his character is kinda tough.He's a skinni loser who doesn't care about his friends.

Chris H. gave it a9:
The second half of the movie is a little slow, but the first half is so good that it completely makes up for it.

Full Metal Jacket Warner Bros.

Full Metal Jacket
Warner Bros.