Almost a tale of two movies. One training, the other Vietnam.

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2010)

I have to say I am not the biggest Kubrick fan. Not really against him or anything, but I have actually seen very few films by him. In fact, other than this one, the only other film of his I have seen is "The Shining" so of these two my experiences have been mostly positive. This film starts out great in my opinion with a well organized basic training section. You get to meet new recruits as they get their head shaved, then you get to see what a Marine has to go through to be a Marine and suffice to say there is no way I could do what they do. Not only do you have a crazed Sergent constantly yelling at you and demoralizing you, I just could not handle the sleeping quarters and all that comes with basic training as I have social anxiety problems so I most likely would try to get away or off myself. I would not do what the one guy does here though. The second half of the film is a bit weaker and not as strong plot wise as the first part. This may have been done on purpose as to depict the Vietnam war as disorganized and chaotic and if that is the case it is done well. Just not enough plot structure for my tastes in this section of the film, still good, it just can not quite rise to the level of the first portion of the film. The acting is even though throughout the movie so that helps in the rather uneven Vietnam section of the movie.