Saving Private Joker

Rating: 9/10 (23 July 1999)

Full Metal Jacket is one of those rare films from which you are unable to turn away no matter how disturbing the images. The film revolves around a character named private Joker. Few actual names of characters in the film are ever learned. Each person is represented by a dehumanizing or insulting nickname which he carries with him proudly. In such a coercive environment there is a fellow named Gomer (actual name Lawrence) who is not capable, at first, of completing any of the drills the breathtakingly brutal drill sergeant enforces. As Joker develops more into an individual or as he puts it "killing machine" Gomer slips silently into insanity. The images which fill the first half of FMJ are unforgettable. The second half, which focuses on Jokers tour of duty in the Viet Nam (filmed in England) is no less captivating but somehow the story seems to have been recycled from previous war pictures. Without question however, the influence this movie must have had on Spielberg is obvious in particular during the final harrowing showdown. This film is a must see.