Worth it just for the 'boot camp' section... (MINOR SPOILERS)

Rating: 9/10 (12 March 2001)

...The second half is, admittedly, not quite as purely entertaining, but who ever said war WAS entertaining in the first place? The most gritty and accurate war film I've seen, knocking the highly over-rated "Platoon" squarely into a cocked hat, in my opinion. This IS a Kubrick film, so expect everything that's in there to have been included for a clearly defined reason. Several moments in this film border on genius, including the absurdly funny but somehow horrific head shaving sequence that opens the film, backed by an appropriate track I can't at this moment remember the name of. Good performances by all, especially D'onofrio and Ermey. Kubrick managed to tackle almost every genre available, this is his war effort, and it's a cracker. Don't miss it.