FULL METAL JACKET
A film review by Chad Polenz
Copyright 1997 Chad Polenz
***1/2 (out of 4 = very good) 1987, R, 117 minutes [1 hour, 47 minutes] [drama/war] starring: Matthew Modine (Private Joker), R. Lee Ermey (Sergeant Hartman), Vince D'Onofrio (Leonard), Kevyn Major Howard (Rafterman), written by Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, Gustave Hasford, produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on the novel by Gustave Hasford.
It's hard to believe war exists. Most of us don't understand it's such an insane way of solving problems, and that is what "Full Metal Jacket" tries to comprehend for us. Unlike most films about Vietnam, this one only focuses on the soldiers and their roles as pawns.
The film "stars" Matthew Modine as Private Joker, a typical slacker who joined the Marines because he had nothing else to do with his life (I say "stars" because all of the characters have few lines and are all treated as numbers - which is the purpose of the film).
Unlike most war films, this one actually takes the time to show soldiers going through boot camp. Here we meet some interesting characters here such as Sergeant Hartman (Ermey), an extremely strict drill sergeant who is easy to hate. There is also Leonard, AKA "Gomer Pyle" (D'Onofrio), a fat, cowardly fellow who tries his hardest to succeed, but is constantly punished by Hartman because he can't cut it. The chemistry between the two is interesting and often hysterically funny.
The setting shifts rather quickly after the first half hour or so, moving from the rookies in boot camp, to their individual platoons in Vietnam. When we see soldiers going off to battle we have no idea who they are and don't feel sorry when one of them dies. Kubrick doesn't let you to get too attached to his characters, as the focus constantly shifts between many different characters, although always coming back to Private Joker.
There is really no plot to this film, it is just the atmosphere of war, showing how hellish and insane it is. The soldiers have not been with women in a long time, and they act like typical chauvinists, but here it seems justifiable. Paying $10 for a prostitute is normal there. Being woken at all hours to fight battles with gunfire raining down upon them does not seem that strange either.
Hating the Vietnamese for no reason is the general consensus among the soldiers. They subliminally define their hatred as they converse about how the Vietnamese don't appreciate them at all, so why are they even there? Freedom? Freedom for who?
Kubrick's films say something about our own society by taking us to totally different ones. With "Full Metal Jacket" we go through something that actually happened in our own reality but it seems just as surrealistic as "2001."
(4/11/96) (1/29/97) (6/13/97) [also by Kubrick: "A Clockwork Orange," "Dr. Strangelove," "Spartacus," "2001: A Space Odyssey"]
please visit Chad'z Movie Page @ http://members.aol.com/ChadPolenz/index.html
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