Jarhead

Name: Jarhead
Genre: Biography, Drama, War
Released: November 4, 2005
Duration: 125 min
Rating: 58
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black

2005

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 281 Ratings

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 281 Ratings

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Jarhead

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: November 4, 2005 | R

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black

Summary: Laced with dark wit, honest inquisition and episodes that are at once surreal and poignant, tragic and absurd, Jarhead is the film adaptation of Marine Anthony Swofford's bracing memoir that took readers into his disorienting firsthand experience in the Gulf War. (Universal)

Director: Sam Mendes

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, War

Rating: R

Runtime: 125 min

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Critic Reviews

William Arnold

The sum of the movie is devastating. One takes out of it a sense that the human cost of our endless adventure in Iraq is going to be incalculable, perhaps catastrophic -- a psychological time bomb that will be exploding for decades to come. Read full review

Stanley Kauffmann

The daring achievement of Jarhead is that it is not a film about war, about combat: it is about being a soldier. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

A harsh and thoroughly unromantic examination of the scarring effects of war. Read full review

Empire Colin Kennedy

While not quite the war movie that many of us were hoping to see right now, Mendes’ dispassionate take on the first Gulf War has many merits, and it does bring vividly to life the peculiar dilemma of the modern soldier. Read full review

Kirk Honeycutt

Jarhead refuses to engage in its own point of view toward events it depicts. So the film feels empty and tentative, uncertain of what if anything these events add up to. Read full review

Dana Stevens

Mr. Swofford's book has earned a place alongside the classics of military literature, but Mr. Mendes's film is more like a footnote - a minor movie about a minor war, and a film that feels, at the moment, remarkably irrelevant. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Jarhead virtually begins with a rip-off of the basic-training sequence that opens Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." Read full review

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User Reviews

walou213

Dec 16, 2019

how could it be rated 58 by paid critics is crazy, no doubt why it get a 71 from users : it's literally one of the best war movie.
In my opinion, it is as good as a full metal jacket at showing war through the screen. I mean real war, not rambo.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

SamS.

Nov 6, 2005

Captures all aspects in perfect unicin of the Gulf War. Understands it is not a big was and captrues that in every scene. Brilliant, touching, and powerful interactions and preformences between all actors. Shows realistic and political aspects of the Gulf War. A slap in in face to military Captures all aspects in perfect unicin of the Gulf War. Understands it is not a big was and captrues that in every scene. Brilliant, touching, and powerful interactions and preformences between all actors. Shows realistic and political aspects of the Gulf War. A slap in in face to military wives, that is true, but that is the only fault of this supurbley acted, incredibly beautifal film. Jamie Foxx and Jake Gylenhall are only two examples of wonderful actors. Peter Sarsgaard diserves a oscar.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

Marine0621

Feb 2, 2010

Sorry America if your appalled. Yes we make dick jokes, yes most women don't make it and YES we do a lot of stupid shit when we are bored. More real than America was ready for.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

DavudW.

Nov 3, 2005

Mendes delivers a riveting movie experience. The first half of the film is fantastic. It loses it's way in the second half and is too long. Lacking a decisive end that the audience would appreciate, it nevertheless mimics its subject by being ambiguous about a military exercise in Mendes delivers a riveting movie experience. The first half of the film is fantastic. It loses it's way in the second half and is too long. Lacking a decisive end that the audience would appreciate, it nevertheless mimics its subject by being ambiguous about a military exercise in futility. A military trained for a type of war that has passed it by technologically. Memorable scenes and moments that will stay with you for a few days.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

StevenF

May 31, 2013

Jarhead pulls back all the things we might just think we know about war, and tells a tale of the most dangerous aspect of any soldiers adventure...themselves. Many questions are asked and often answered as Jake Gyllenhaal's Anthony "Swoff" Swofford is welcomed in unique fashion to "theJarhead pulls back all the things we might just think we know about war, and tells a tale of the most dangerous aspect of any soldiers adventure...themselves. Many questions are asked and often answered as Jake Gyllenhaal's Anthony "Swoff" Swofford is welcomed in unique fashion to "the suck", the Marines in 1989 on the brink of war.
Jarhead is very different from any war film you will see, because it isn't really a war film, its a character-driven tale of personal growth, life decisions and an insightful journey through the eyes of those walking endlessly through the desert, waiting for something to happen. Its full of colourful characters, sparkling wit and plenty of bored soldiers talking crudely and finding endless time to wait for war.
Swoff is a sniper, and he never truly understands what made him sign up for the Marines, he narrates his way through different aspects of his life leading up to that one moment that he can remember and bring away with him from his day in the Gulf.
We are introduced to various members of Swoff's sniper team, including Troy (Peter Sarsgard) who is a confident yet quiet character, contrary to Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx), a sharp-tongued, hilarious yet focused and determined veteran, putting these men through their paces.
The true tsle and plot of the film is not the wider scope of war or political agenda, but a selection of characters and how they adjust to life away from home, the prospect of being in danger and the personal motivation that drives these people to react to things the way they do, and how they handle not just being a soldier, but simply living and how their own personalities pass over onto the battlefield.
Jarhead is an expertly character oriented film, sure there is some excellent set-pieces, but this is very much a dramatic telling, a journal if you will, of one persons journey, so don't expect an all out action extravaganza. But the way the narration goes, the film does sometimes seem to embellish the prospect of becoming a soldier of any kind, and the amount of humour can sometimes lead it to almost appear too comical for its dramatic context.
But that aside, the performances are excellent and varied to the point of unique qualities. Sykes loves what he does, and truly shows it, Troy also loves it but prevents himself from pursuing it, and Swoff just can't quite work out what he wants, perfectly put across by Gyllenhaal.
A true art of a film, not trying too fool the viewer, but giving them a point of view.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Onlyclassicvg1

Jun 3, 2022

surprised that this didn't recieve a better score than it did. A huge majority of the reviews that I've read say how 'terrible' the film is because it has no huge forward motion into action or anything.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MarkS.

Nov 7, 2005

This is one of the WORST military movies, and a complete disgrace to the marine corps, and our government. Besides the fact it has no story line and a dumb ending, the film is useless. Don't waste your time, money or brain on this one---remember I told you so....not even worth seeing This is one of the WORST military movies, and a complete disgrace to the marine corps, and our government. Besides the fact it has no story line and a dumb ending, the film is useless. Don't waste your time, money or brain on this one---remember I told you so....not even worth seeing on video if they let you have it for free---SERIOUSLY!!! This is a stupid, liberal, hollywood jerk off film.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

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