WOW

Rating: Null/10 (10 September 2000)

"Full Metal Jacket" is a near masterpiece. After watching "Saving Private Ryan," I thought I would never again watch another great war film. Then cam "Full Metal Jacket." I believe this to be the third greatest war film.

Though it does not have that many big name actors, "Full Metal Jacket" passed with flying colors. The best part of the whole movie was at the beginning because of the comedy provided mostly by R. Lee Ermey. It gave a nice balance between the action and drama this film had.

After a spectacular beginning, I had high hopes for the film to get a lot better than the way it turned out. While it seemed only natural for the film to carry out the way it did, I was disappointed in the direction Kubrick went.
Without giving away any spoilers, "Full Metal Jacket" went from training soldiers for war to having them fight in it. However, the problem with this is there were new characters introduced and not much time to develop their backgrounds like "Saving Private Ryan" did.
Overall, an excellent job by an unknown cast who have grown and matured into big box office names. I give this a rousing thumbs up.