Adequate, yet flawed war movie

Rating: 5/10 (30 September 2005)

Though the boot camp scenes were riveting and quite accurate for the Marine Corps in the 60's (from what I've heard from first-hand accounts), the shooting of the drill instructor (played with superb realism by former Marine D.I. Lee Ermey) was a total buzz-kill and far-reaching. For me, this misguided climax threw a poorly conceived curve-ball, slowing the film down dramatically and losing its well-earned momentum. Private Pyle could have simply killed himself and this would have been adequate. Disturbingly, the audience is tortuously subjected to Joker's tiring and annoying dialog for most of the film (do we really care about him?) while the plot seemingly meanders in an unclear direction; that is, until the action involving the sniper begins. Viewers are then suddenly catapulted into the fray (possibly a move by director Kubrick to mimic the shock and violence of Vietnam upon the audience) and the story begins to garner a clearer sense of purpose and focus. The madness and confusion during the combat scenes bring strong realistic performances, but ultimately, the film fades to an end and loses insight along the way. There is no strong sense of closure or solid setup for a conclusion regarding the characters (as we saw in "Platoon"). Though the combat scenes are well done, most of the characters are not fully developed enough for the audience to identify with or even really care about. The potential was definitely there and the cinematography was excellent, but the script had some problems that could have been rewritten for an easier, more realistic flow. Some key adjustments could have served the film well overall.