Great first half...decent second half

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2008)

Rated R for strong violence and language and for sexual content.
I have seen a total of four Stanley Kubrick films.They were The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, 2001 A Space Oddysea and this film.Clockwork Orange was an amazing film and one of my favorites.However I found the other three I saw to be overrated.The Shining was very good but it was not as good as everybody says it is.I just found 2001 boring.As for this film, it started out excellent but then turned mediocre.The first half of the film is very good.It is about a group of soldiers in Vietnam and their abusive(and sometimes hilarious) drill Sargent.There is a fat incompetent man who is nicknamed "Gomer Pyle".The drill Sargent enjoys yelling at and verbally abusing him.One day, Pyle causes everybody in the platoon to be punished.They then punish him.So now Pyle becomes more competent but much much crazier.He eventually kills the Sargent and commits suicide before graduation.This is the first half of the film and I found it to be very good.Now the second half of the film is a completely different story from the first.There is no mention of the events that happened in the first half and its just shows them in Vietnam.Its not bad but its a decent Vietnam film at best.Anyway Full metal Jacket started out great but became just a decent war film in the second half.Worth renting I guess if you like war films.