Customer Reviews
War Movie with a difference - By: Lendrick, 23 Sep 2008 
Jarhead starts outin boot camp with new recruits & a sadistic drill instructor - & you think you know what is coming next. Bonding, heroism & deathin the heat of battle. But that is not how Jarhead goes.
Instead what we get is a realistic(ish) view of the experience a youg marinein the period leading up to & including the first gulf war. We see young men driven half crazy with boredom & frustration as they wait for the war to start. It is an unjudgemental film that is uncomfortable viewing at times.
I lags a bit a points - difficult to make boredom interesting - & while I haven't read the autobiography this is based on it is clear some events have have been changed to increase the drama.
Not a brilliant film - but one well worth your time
The "intelligent" war film - By: Dave the Flav', 01 Sep 2008 "Gripping, intelligent & amazing" is the pull quote on the back of the DVD sleeve & it's the closest opinion to my own.
If you want an all action war film, this won't be at the top of your lift. Jarhead is one of the only (in my brief viewing of the many war films out there) 'intelligent' war films out there thanks to it being based on the main character's personal experiencein the Gulf.
The casting is spot on with Jake Gyllenhaalin the role of Swoff, whose face looks every part a seasoned Marine the moment it appears. Jamie Foxx plays Staff Sgt. Sykes, who I can't help but feel rings of Samuel L Jackson at points...
The film, though, feels disjointed. The intro of the film begins with a salute (no pun!) to Full Metal Jacket's intro. Swoff's narration of how he became a sniper reminds me of Jack's storytellingin Fight Club. And 35mm bordered shots are splicedin for no reason other than to add to the cinematographic quality. There's nothing wrong with that, but the conventions & themes don't run all the way to the end. So how did they help outin the first place? See my point?
Nevertheless, you stick with it. Although there are filming conventions randomly thrownin for good measure, the screenplay is good; there's a great feeling of camaraderie you feel when watching war films, & the message of "why are we even fighting this war?" is clear throughout. War - what is it good for? There is also really nice cinematography provided by Industrial Light & Magic, & looks great on the widescreen.
Gung-ho war film fans - sorry, it may not be your cup of tea. Those that like films based on novels, go for it.
intertresting - By: martin thomas, 07 Jun 2008 
decent film that is boring & slow movingin places but overall is decent entertainment & is worth watching
Conventional anti-war flick - By: happyreviewer, 28 Jan 2008 Read the book. That was great. This film didn't work. I knew what to expect. I wasn't expecting an action movie. So it wasn't that. I think this film was doomed to failure because its raison d'etre is to depict the life of a soldier to be an uneventful slog, mostly boring. In that sense it is too ambitious. The thing is, you can have an uneventful book because you can get right into the minds of the characters, you have the author's internal monologue, but a movie is visual. Things have to happen to compensate for the lack of narration. Only this is a film about nothing happening, about soldiers trainingin base camp, walking through a desert, digging holes, arguing, fighting (each other) & generally being bored. Then there's the cliché of the troubled warrior brooding & holding his headin his hands to sad music. If you like that sort of thing then you'll love this film. It has lots of that sort of stuffin it. Only it doesn't really say anything new, it just sticks to the conventional mantra: "You'll never really know what war's like unless you've been there & then you still won't be able to understand it." Which is a bit self-effacing, but there you go. My advice would be to buy the book & forget the film.
Realities of War - By: wolfenstein, 10 Jan 2008 
I was reluctant to see this movie. As a veteran of Desert Shield/Storm, I spent my first 90 days in-theaterin the Weapons Co of A Swofford's Battalion. I later was moved to the 1st Bn of 7th Marines, but having beenin the same unit for some of the same time I felt I could offer readers a unique perspective on the film's accuracy.
From a purely aesthetic perspective I thought the film was well done. The acting was very good, & the script was well written, witty, & accurate. The actors were well suited to their roles. My personal preference for a good plot would have been disappointed were it not for my personal interestin the film. In my opinion this film is an outstanding dramatic-documentary, so adjust your expectations accordingly. If you are expecting a driving plot line & all the accompanying dramatic tension, then I think you will be disappointed (as many whose comments I heard exiting the theater certainly were). But if you think of it as a chance to take a glimpse into a pointin history, & see it as some of those who lived it did, then I think you will be impressed.
Many people may think that the obscenity of some of the interactions was overdone for effect. But whatever anyone's personal judgment of that behavior, that is the closest portrayal of Marines (or soldiers) being themselves I have yet seen on screen. Marines are vulgar. They do watch porn. They do fight among themselves. They do both hate, & love, the Marine Corps. There is an omni-present anti-war conspiracy theorist. The do say ridiculous things. There are some who are over the line. The reality of the Marine Infantry is that things happen there every day that are well beyond conventional sensibility, & which strain credibility to the average civilian. It's all true. I love the Marine Corps & I am still serving - I don't have an axe to grind. It just happens to be true.
Are there parts of the film that I find incredible? Yes. But they are not the essential things. There is a scene, it's evenin the trailer,in which everyone is firing their weapon into the air. I wasn't there, but I can't fathom a breach of discipline on that scale. I can't say it's impossible, but I am doubtful. But whether it's true or not is not important. At its essence this is a film about Marines, how they adjusted to the Marine Corps, each other, & a war. If there are a few incredible details, then we can just be grateful that Hollywood didn't impose a car-chase on us.
This is a film about Marines. At that time, there were very few who turned down scholarships to Ivy League schools to come in. We were from strange backgrounds. We were obscene. We did want to get our kills. Many of us were frustrated that our war was only 100 hrs long. We knew we were filling the footsteps of giants - the Marines of Iwo, The Chosin, Belleau Wood - & I think we all wanted a chance to earn a place next to those men. In our wild, adrenalized youth, those aspirations just took the crude form of looking for a kill. Or at least that's how I've put itin perspective 15 years later.
If you go & see this film, try to recall yourself at 18 (as I was). Suspend your judgment of the obscenity & vulgarity until you're sure you would've done it differently. I can't speak for Swofford, but I am still incredibly proud of my service there. The insanity of this film reminds me why: because it is characteristic of the immense hardship that our youth bears on behalf of the rest. Do the characters look stressed? It's not hyperbole. We were 18 & we thought we were going to die over there. Still, at H-Hour, everyone marched North. In my opinion, you better fill some big shoes before you judge that.
So don't go into this film champing at the bit to pigeon-hole it as "Anti" or "Pro" war, with all the pre-fab rhetoric that comes with such a judgment. You have an opportunity here to look back into our little momentin history. Swofford has invited you into our memories. They are not Right, & they are not Left, they are just our story as Swofford lived it. If that kind of thing interests you, then go & see this movie.
