Not quite in the same league as Kubrick's best. But a good picture nonetheless

Rating: 8/10 (10 October 2019)

Kubrick's Vietnam war movie is actually two movies. One is excellent, while the other is just good. The basic training part of the film is pure gold. It's outrageously funny, endlessly quotable and features a career best performance by R. Lee Ermey, as the Drill Sergeant from hell. The Vietnam part, while not bad by any stretch of the imagination, is a bit of a letdown when compared to the high-octane first act. It does not offer anything new or provocative that has not been covered elsewhere. With that being said, Full Metal Jacket is still funny, unrelenting and ferocious. A picture more in the mold of Apocalypse Now than a realistic war movie. Just not as good as Coppola's masterpiece.