Kubrick's vision of Vietnam, not what you expected.

Rating: 7/10 (9 June 2012)

Like for real most Vietnam films are dark and demeaning, Platoon, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now etc. Now it's Kubrick's turn, director of Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut and The Shining. Even though it's not really a comedy, this is the lightest Vietnam film iv'e seen, and it came from Kubrick, WTF.
The first 45 minutes of the film actually start off where you wouldn't expect, boot camp. The first 45 minutes shows R. Lee Ermey, a drill sergeant, train a very unlucky group of trainees into preparation for the Vietnam war, with his tough as nails brute force. Although it takes the perspective of pretty much everybody, the main focus is Private Pyle, who's overweight body causes much dismay and trouble for him, angering the drill sergeant to no end. It greatly shows how much hell boot camp, as well as the war can put someone through.
Afterwards, it jumps into the actual war, which follows a couple of the soldiers from the first half, and introduces some new ones. The characters are very colorful and memorable, and perfectly display the reality of attitude for the war.
Kubrick's vision, in my opinion was to give an ironic twist comparison to boot camp and the war. In the film, it seems as if the boot camp is 10x worse than the war, because a lot of the war is just them hanging out and drinking. There are lots of battle scenes, but still. As I said before, Kubrick's vision wasn't what I thought it was. I guess since everybody else all ready had dark and gloomy Vietnam war films, he figured he'd go another route and knock us off guard with a lighter film. Although it's not necessarily a comedy, it has moments of goofiness that I couldn't believe he added in there.
A lot of people say the first 45 minutes are the only parts worth watching, because they're the rarest ones that we haven't seen before, and I used to agree. Although I do like the first half better, I do appreciate the work with the other half as well, which has some very intense parts that do manage to differ from other battle scenes in other films.
Even though not the heaviest Vietnam war film, it still manages to catch the eye of interest. Out of all the directors of Vietnam films, how did Kubrick's vision become the lightest one? That being said, this is probably the rarest one, with the most unique features in it, which I do appreciate. Definitely worth checking out, even though the first 45 minutes are better, the rest still remains decent, for a decent film.