Full Metal Jacket (Deluxe Edition) [Blu-ray]

Full Metal Jacket is split brutally into two parts, the first of which follows our hero, Private Joker (Matthew Modine) through basic training at Parris Island. A tubby, slow-witted misfit named Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio in an effective performance) is pushed too hard by the sadistic drill instructor Hartmann (R. Lee Ermey), and ends up killing both Hartman and himself in the Grand Guignol blackout sketch that ends part one.

It is at this point that many people have trouble with Full Metal Jacket, as the second half jumps to Viet Nam with no warning. Although Joker and another character named Cowboy (Arliss Howard) carry over from the first part of the film, they never so much as talk about Parris Island or the murder-suicide that marked their training there. It is as though that event happened in another universe, or at least a different movie.

The key to this apparent gaffe in story cohesion is contained in a scene where Joker is confronted by a Major over having "Born to Kill" scrawled on his helmet at the same time he wears a peace symbol on his flak jacket.

"I was trying to say something about the duality of man," he says, "...the Jungian thing, SIR!"

Duality of man; duality of film. There are (in the film's developing thesis) two possible motivations for killing people and breaking things - compassion (to defend freedom and turn back despotism; our OFFICIAL purpose in Viet Nam), and annihilation (the perverse joy of revenge, of domination; of blood-soaked victory).

Which motivation is more "moral"? Which leads to the "high-ground"? Doesn't annihilation always entail moral decay? And doesn't compassion always lead, ultimately, to peace, rather than violence? Through Joker's journey, from killer-in-training to killer-in-fact, we get a disturbing answer that, by its very simplicity, defies the kind of dumbed-down platitudes most war films (even really good ones like Kubrick's own Paths of Glory) try to feed us. The end finds Joker facing a wounded, disarmed sniper who has killed several of his fellow soldiers, as well as his best friend. In a typically Kubrickian reversal, the sadistic thing would be to "...leave her to the mother-lovin' rats..." (in other words, leave her in PEACE), rather than finish her off, which seems the more humane choice (through a paradoxical act of VIOLENCE). The sniper, a teenaged girl, even begs Joker to shoot her. It seems a simple, humanitarian act when he finally pulls the trigger, but in a long, ambiguous close-up on his face, we see the same demon lurking in Joker's eyes that haunted Lawrence back in Parris Island, just before he killed Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, then himself. The connection is clear; even the same music cue (by Kubrick's daughter Vivian, under the pseudonym of "Abigail Mead") can be heard on the sound track. By setting up a situation where both possible choices (to kill or not to kill) seem at once sadistic and kind, virtuous and evil, we are forced to see the situation on a more abstract level - where words fail, but a horrible insight reveals itself. The nature of war, it seems to suggest, is the nature of mankind - and vice-versa.

Kubrick's production values are first-rate. The DVD looks and sounds quite good, given the source material (Kubrick's muted palette is deliberate; his original sound mix was a fairly compressed monaural track). One particular use of a Steadicam with a slightly longer-than-ideal lens is inspired, giving us a view shaky enough to seem "real" but smooth enough to be fluid.

In the Kubrick canon, Full Metal Jacket is a hotly debated film. Whether you love it or hate it, just remember: it's a Jungian thing.


At last you too can know what war is really like   December 20, 2006
 16 out of 17 found this review helpful

I was drafted out of college in 1968 when graduate school deferments ended. Yes, I know I could have avoided the whole thing just by swearing that I was homosexual or handicapped or by convincing my father to win a Senate seat. Alas, Dad was a World War II vet who worked for Ford and who thought it was about time I started acting like a man. And, I was young then and idealistic and it seemed important to me that year that I should share the same risks that other young men were being compelled to take.

At least, unlike so many of my peers, I have not since been forced to wonder what I missed. Because, I didn't really miss any of it.

Most of the war movies that have been produced since Vietnam have been made by men who have never heard a shot fired in anger and have been haunted by what they missed all their lives. For example, 'Saving Private Ryan' looks and sounds and feels nothing like war. I have always felt insulted by 'Apocalypse Now.' And, 'Platoon' sometimes looks like Vietnam but not usually and I don't really think Oliver Stone has anything more to say on the subject of that war that what Jane Fonda has already said a thousand times. And, I realize it is idiosyncaratic of me, but I also had a good friend named Jack Rambo who met a tragic and painful end in late November 1969 and so I have always been annoyed that Sylvester Stallone, who spent the war hiding in Switzerland, should not only give himself permission to appropriate my friend's name but go on to more or less slander all Vietnam Vets at the same time and then get rich by doing it.

But 'Full Metal Jacket' is very different from all these other Vietnam films. Most of the kids with whom I served were bright, funny, anti-authoritarian, ironic, tough and very dangerous. So are the characters in this movie. I have probably been asked a hundred times: "Well, did you ever actually kill somebody?" and then the inevitable, "Well what was it like?" Well, if you actually want to know, watch the smartass protagonist of this movie try to rise above the Marine Corps with his intellect and cleverness. Watch him go out with a patrol that gets lost--because really, you aren't actually in combat unless you're lost. Watch kids get picked off. Watch another kid do something really angry, stupid and brave. Watch them line up, pop smoke and go waste a slope. Then watch them skip home in the dark singing the Mickey Mouse song. That is pretty much what my war looked like.

The other day I heard our President say that he and Donald Rumsfeld had "been through a war together" these last few years. I think it haunts the President that he "missed" Vietnam. I once heard James Jones say, "I would never want my son to go to war but I would have to tell him that if he didn't go that not going would haunt him for the rest of his life." Now I live in a nation governed by men who are haunted by "not going." And, I think they could have saved us all a world of heart break if they had just watched this movie instead of having to prove what tough guys they are by invading Iraq.
Donald Charles Davis


Has not dated, still as strong as ever   June 5, 2005
 50 out of 62 found this review helpful

Unfortunately for Kubrick this film was released in a time when all Vietnam war films were measured against Apocalypse Now. He entered a market that was already glutted. When I first saw it I was disappointed actually. Then I have reseen it, and reseen it, and reseen it. When most other Vietnam war films have dated this one still has freshness and strength. Kunrick manages, as usual, to capture the dreamlike surreal character of the training of the recruits and the war itself, without ever losing the documentary feel of the film. Only a true genius can do that. Private Joker is not really the hero of the film, he is the observer we follow. He tries to observe the war from a distance, through his camera, never really participating, keeping an intellectual distance. It is not until he fires the final fatal shot he truly understands what is going on. Only by becoming a beast does he have any hope of surviving.
Another tribute is that everyone can watch it; anti-war protesters and marine veterans alike.
There is only one true battle sequence, and that is a kind of inverted siege, instead of the protagonists being botteld up in a house (a safe palce, a Freudian womb) by forces of chaos outside, which is the usual Hollywood fare, the marines need to get into the old factory and get the sniper before they are all picked off. An interesting role reversal, and food for thought.
This film is heavy on symbolism and subtle messages. But they are all timeless, dealing with the nature of war and of humanity, and therefore the film does not age.


The best war movie ever!   April 22, 2000
 30 out of 36 found this review helpful

This is my favorite Kubrick film to watch because it is his most "extreme"-in language, violence, and subject matter. What makes this movie so much better than all other war movies is the fact that it doesn't concentrate on one facet of war, such as a battle, man or mission. It focuses on the complete process of the dehumanization of men in war. From drilling it into their heads in basic training, to "pacifist" Joker wasting the sniper and thus completing the process. Kubrick really seems to capture the essence of men in the Vietnam War. Commanders only intent on creating killing machines, soldiers simply killing for amusement, and no one thinking of the consequences for anyone. I've read a lot of criticism of the second half of this movie-the battle scenes-for being boring(compared to the first half) and unrealistic. I feel I must point out that, after the savagely brutal first half, the revelation of the meaning of life would have probably been a letdown. As for it being unrealistic, Vietnam is not just one big jungle, and war is not simply made up of planes flying overhead and bombs being dropped. These scenes, I feel, capture the isolation,sense of terror, and ever changing personal moralities brought on from being in a constanly deteriorating situation. I hope that those of you who didn't like the second half will go back and rewatch it. It is certainly worth the extra effort, for it is what makes this film a classic.


BORN TO KILL   February 22, 2000
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

Full Metal Jacket is the gritty, psychologically disturbing tale of the process that turns humans into trained killers. The film is essentially diveded into two halves, with the first taking part during marine recruit training where the would-be soldiers are molded into remorseless killing machines. The performance by Vincent D'onofrio highlights this intense first half. The second half follows Private Joker to Vietnam and the combat of Hue City. Surprisingly, the violence of war pales in comparison to the dehumanization process and build-up of the recruit training. Despite losing some momentum(which would have been almost impossibe to keep up) it completes the story by showing how the training has effected them mentally. The combat scenes feature great cinematography among the backdrop of countless burning buildings. This is a welcome change from the scenery of the jungle of most nam films. The end is cold, calculated and surprising, culminating in an extrordinary experience. The film also contains a unique feel to it, credited to director Stanley Kubrick. The acting of Mathew Modine carries the film and the now infamous character of Sg. Hartman make this an unforgetable film. Definitely worth the purchase for the fact that it can be viewed many times because of its deep layers of meaning. The Stanley Kubrick Colection also features the origional cinematic trailer. In short, if you're looking for a film about vietnam then skip this, but if you're looking for a film about the dehumanization of war then this classic fits the bill. The film was nominated for best adapted screenplay and was voted second best picture of the year by the late critic Gene Siskel.