One of the finest war films I have ever seen...Shapeless but pragmatic enough.

Rating: 8/10 (29 January 2014)

I never saw a Stanley Kubrick film even though boasting about my utter penchant for films goes in sheer vain. But I heard about them a heck lot. The horror genre in Hollywood can surely be exemplified by Kubrick's 'The Shining'. He even had furnished his mastery when he gave the dream of eye-popping sci-fi effects a refined shape in his '2001: A Space Odyssey '. But I started by watching the first Kubrick film by giving his war film 'Full Metal Jacket' a worthwhile try. Why Full Metal jacket? Maybe it is because war films have a strong flavour of despair, horror and plethoric human drama and I love it all.
Full Metal Jacket consists of two distinct parts. A soft tone of 'Kiss me goodbye and write me when I am gone' marks the beginning the movie where the group of grunts are sitting in saloon getting their heads shaved off. That is the drill; the one to get them trained on Paris Island so that they can find themselves capable to be recruited in Marine Corps. The Island is a place where a straight poker face and nods to the senior drill instructor's commands becomes their only fate of life.
However, the drill instructor sergeant Hartman is not the one worth belying with. He is arrogant, aggressive, regards the privates as lowest form of life on the earth & shows rapid impulses to petty mistakes by the privates. His favourite barb-target is Private Gomer Pyle (so renamed from Leonard Lawrence by the instructor himself), an obese klutz who is often taunted and contradicted for his obese body and his utter inability to participate in workouts & is meant to be quite obtuse.
The rigorous physical training sessions, continuous streak of taunts by the instructor & predestined antipathy which his associate privates have for him puts Pyle's innocence & endurance to a test; The test which concludes with a Pyle transforming into an antagonist shooting up the sergeant and himself.
The latter half in majority is based in Vietnam and showcases war scenes and bloodbath. Private Joker (Mathew Modine), the one who used to bunk with Pyle and the sheer witness of his antagonism is recruited as a war correspondent in Stars and Stripes which publishes military newspaper in Vietnam. Following incoming enemy attacks all over South Vietnam, Joker is briefed and sent to Phu Bai along with his cameraman Rafterman to interview the platoon and record their experiences regarding the war. He meets his Paris Island associate Private Cowboy in Lusthog Squad as the entire party gradually gets drawn into a booby trap.
Even though the film is pragmatic, it is completely shapeless and fails to deal within realms of realism. The second half invites a fruitful comparison to other war films like 'Platoon', 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Saving Private Ryan'. As it progresses, culminates into a horrendous picture of war and horror.
It is comfortably understandable and has no easy catharsis. Kubrick has enhanced the visuals quite fantastically by his daunting angles at the scene of carnage. He manages to create a marvellous visual epiphany on the trembling prisoner at the end. As compared to 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Platoon', Full Metal Jacket appears naive but can hold a tight grip on the viewer's attention for the complete duration. Cheers for Stanley Kubrick
8 on 10 stars