Joker's character underestimated

Rating: Null/10 (19 June 2001)

A lot of people seem to be overly impressed with the first half of this film and then either disregard or rubbish the second part. In fact, to me the second part stands out as a very unusual and fascinating study of human conflict. The first half though seems simplistic, stereotypical and contrived which (apparent) ex-marines on this web site have called into question. For example Hartmann's brutality which would perhaps not have happened in reality. However, the first half does have interesting themes of hardship, guilt, relief, humiliation and the emotional results of all of that(as found in D'Onofrio's character).
But to me the second half stands out in this film. Modine's character is explored in greater detail and reveals a cocky though very intelligent young man in a strange land, surrounded by murder, chaos and vengeance. We see themes of revenge throughout: the killing of Hartman, the dead villagers in chalk, the death of the sniper all of which our Private Joker plays a role (or there abouts). He uses metaphor and humour to relieve the strain of his situation to an extent. He is the alter ego really of the brutal kind of soldier that the United States produced for and indeed within the Vietnam war, for example Adam Baldwin's character, etc. Someone mentioned that joker is 'the beacon of hope' in a sense, a humane character we can find comfort in. This is very true and untypical of most of the soldiers we see. Joker's philosophical ideologising can be clearly seen in his references to Jung's 'duality of man' and his remark about 'wanting to meet stimulating and interesting people of ancient cultures, and kill them..', as well as in his desire to study military journalism as opposed to the typical 'infantry' role of the marine. The reference to the Vietnamese as 'the finest people on Earth' also struck me in the midst of all the soldier's prejudices. In that same scene, the soldier also speaks of how 'When this is all over we're gonna miss not having someone to shoot at' which spoke volumes of America's role in Vietnam and indeed other conflicts around the world. In a sense thus Modine IS Kubrick in the film, he is the camera and the eyes through which we see the war as Kubrick wants us to see it.
One of the superb ultimate ironies of the film of course involved the use of sex. There are constant references to sex, both in the first half and more explicitly in the second half, when the men encounter prostitutes. They nearly all treat women badly or have a degrading opinion about them (Joker's and Cowboy's banter, the scenes when the second prostitute is introduced to the group, etc..) but ultimately of course, it is the FEMALE sniper who proves so skillful and who dispatches three of these so-called 'finest killing machines on Earth'.