Jarhead is missing a star!
In Billybob's review he mentions the differences of opinion around the office about the movie Jarhead, and surprise, I am one of the dissenters in the group. Sam Mendes is an amazing story teller and Jarhead is just that, Amazing story telling. I agree with Billybob that their are similarities to the Kubrick classic Full Metal Jacket, if you dismiss the 2nd half of FMJ where they get pinned down by the sniper - The movies are VERY similar!
Jarhead is all about the lives of the men in the USMC sent to Desert Storm, not the actual war so it was bound to be slower and more methodical than the Vietnam era USMC classic. In FMJ the war was all about boots on the ground and holding territory fighting an enemy that absolutely would rather die than give up an inch, The Gulf War was the shock and awe death from above style of warfare against an enemy that just wanted to get out. The emotion that went into FMJ was all about the fear of being one of the 58,000 young men that would end up coming home in a bag and Kubrick used that to perfection. The Gulf War was over so quickly that our guys never got a chance to have that deep seeded fear, so most of the books from that period are all about the guys and their experiences, which were a little less terrifying than the ones from the 60's so Mendes used what he had and made a great story from it.
Let me clarify that I have no doubt that the men and women in Iraq and Kuwait in 91' had the same fear of death and dismemberment in the desert and they were just as great as those from the guys in the Jungles of Vietnam - There just aren't as many books or movies to draw from it.
I love blood and guts war movies like Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Hamburger Hill and Enemy at the Gates but my all time favorite is Patton and if you've seen it, you know it isn't known for it's action sequences, it's known for story telling. Another really good war movie from this year is The Great Raid so if you find Jarhead to be flat go check it out when it hits DVD shelves this December 20th.
I love war movies that don't try and preach to me - Jarhead told me a story and it didn't piss me off as I walked out of the theatre, like most Hollywood anti-war films try and do.Platoon... Oliver Stone is a shmuck!
Jarhead is all about the lives of the men in the USMC sent to Desert Storm, not the actual war so it was bound to be slower and more methodical than the Vietnam era USMC classic. In FMJ the war was all about boots on the ground and holding territory fighting an enemy that absolutely would rather die than give up an inch, The Gulf War was the shock and awe death from above style of warfare against an enemy that just wanted to get out. The emotion that went into FMJ was all about the fear of being one of the 58,000 young men that would end up coming home in a bag and Kubrick used that to perfection. The Gulf War was over so quickly that our guys never got a chance to have that deep seeded fear, so most of the books from that period are all about the guys and their experiences, which were a little less terrifying than the ones from the 60's so Mendes used what he had and made a great story from it.
Let me clarify that I have no doubt that the men and women in Iraq and Kuwait in 91' had the same fear of death and dismemberment in the desert and they were just as great as those from the guys in the Jungles of Vietnam - There just aren't as many books or movies to draw from it.
I love blood and guts war movies like Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Hamburger Hill and Enemy at the Gates but my all time favorite is Patton and if you've seen it, you know it isn't known for it's action sequences, it's known for story telling. Another really good war movie from this year is The Great Raid so if you find Jarhead to be flat go check it out when it hits DVD shelves this December 20th.
I love war movies that don't try and preach to me - Jarhead told me a story and it didn't piss me off as I walked out of the theatre, like most Hollywood anti-war films try and do.
1 Comments:
JC, you ignorant slut...
Jarhead is no Patton. Not even close. Patton would've put boot to ass on the lot of these guys with the possible exception of the sarge...
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