A great war film by Stanley Kubrick.

Rating: Null/10 (16 October 2003)

`How tall are you private? 5'9' I didn't know they stack s*@#! that high. Where you from soldier? Texas! Holy s*@#! only steers and queers come from Texas, and since you don't look like a steer that kind of narrows it down.' This is one of the most memorable quotes from the Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket, his only film about the Vietnam War. Kubrick wanted to present the war as the injustice and un-winnable quagmire that it became to our country. The movie starts out by following the main characters Joker, Cowboy, and Private Pyle as they go thru basic training at the Paris Island Marine boot camp. It is this half of the movie where the recruits are physically and psychologically broken down are re-built into trained killers who would supposedly think nothing of killing their own family if they were ordered to. R. Lee Ermey gives an all-star performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, the recruit's stern and abusive drill instructor. Ermey was given the part by Kubrick because he had served as a Marine Corps drill instructor from 1965 to 1967 and much of what his character did was actually used by drill instructors at that time. Not all the recruits can hack it but most do pass basic training. In the second half of the movie most of the characters have been shipped off to Vietnam and the rest of the movie follows their experiences in the 1968 Tet offensive. The characters experience the war first hand in the city of Hue, fighting the enemy street by street. It is also reveled that the young Marines aren't valued highly by their commanders who send them out on a recon mission without any tank or air support to help them. This scene also illustrates the fatal error of sending fresh troops on a mission that they are ill prepared to handle, and shows Cowboy's inability to be an effective leader to his squad. This movie highlights the grim irony of Vietnam and is one of the best films made by the late Stanley Kubrick. I give this movie 2 thumbs up; sadly I would have given it 3 thumbs up if I had more hands or could count big toes.