aged badly

Rating: 3/10 (15 August 2015)

Kubrick is a director whose movies age very badly.
Full Metal Jacket is no exception.
I can see what he was trying to do, i think, with that awful drill instructor screaming out of the screen for far too long, and the gradual transformation of the 'gentle giant'. It was simply over done. Too much sonic assault makes for a physically uncomfortable movie. The drill instructor also didn't seem to be able to pull off his lines, either. It felt wooden, directed more to the audience rather than his trainees. Pyle's descent into overplayed madness was pointless, too. Was it simply to highlight the earlier point that marines make the best psycho murders, or did we need someone to shoot the shouty man after he'd harassed us for so long? At any rate, the actor playing Pyle couldn't quite carry it off - he was clearly acting and had no menace in him beyond his physical size. Given the superlative praise other reviewers have given this scene, it was very disappointing.
The part set in Vietnam was not quite as bad. It relies on us having seen other Vietnam war films to work, though, specifically apocalypse now and platoon, far far better, more involving and more engaging movies. Perhaps we are supposed to make those links then feel clever for reading extra depth into a movie that says very little.
the final scene, as the soldiers sing a song about mickey mouse seems like the point of the movie. An extended, over-laboured, comment on the mickey mouse nature of the Vietnam war, with the personal, human cost hammered into us at excessive volume before hand.
In summary, a reasonably tedious movie, a nearly blank canvas for the viewer to project their own interpretation and feel clever. In typical Kubrick style, over-loud, relying on sonic assault to batter down the viewer's mind so that they are left unable to critically assess the disappointingly thin content.