The World of Stanley Kubrick; Full Metal Jacket.

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2005)

Full Metal Jacket (1987) was Stanley Kubrick's entry into the Vietnam War movie sweepstakes that occurred during the eighties. But to be fair to Stanley Kubrick he planned out this film many moons before the others. But due to his infamous lengthy pre-production schedules, this one took forever to be released. The entire film was shot in England (his new home)and all the sets were built from scratch. Because of the subject matter, he received no military assistance from Uncle Sam. The movie was based upon the shocking novel The Short-timers (a brilliant read I might add that was even more darker and brutal than Full Metal Jacket).
The movie was filmed in two parts. The first half takes place in basic training. We follow the lives of a bunch of new marine recruits that are broken down and dehumanized into soldiers. Doctors and Sergents weed out the people who'll either snap or breaks down (those that can't cut the mustard). Part two deals with a soldier's life during the Tet Offensive and the Battle for Hue City.
Take a look folks because this will probably the last time you'll see a movie about war (made in the U.S.A. and backed by a major film company) to show war as gritty, nasty and vile. With all of the Patriotism/Nationalism going on today, the lines of free speech and censorship are ever so blurred. Stanley Kubrick pulled another one out of his hat by making an anti-war film that shows the brutality of not only warfare but the dehumanization process that recruits go through. Kubrick's gritty film style and hand held camera work was basically copied and stolen by many film makers today (i.e. Steven Spielberg). It's gotten to the point were you can't even enjoy war films anymore because they're all the same (direction, filming and editing wise).
Kudos to Kubrick for taking a chance and making such a non-commercial film. Too bad his cinematic input wasn't more prolific.
Highly recommended.