Be prepared.

Rating: 9/10 (11 March 2006)

After a several year absence, Stanley Kubrick returned to the screen with the hard-hitting "Full Metal Jacket", about an American platoon going to Vietnam. The movie wastes no time in getting down and dirty. Sgt. Hartman's (R. Lee Ermey) monologues haranguing the cadets are likely to knock the breath out of anyone. But that's only a preparation for what they experience once they reach Vietnam.
If you've seen Kubrick's other movies, then you probably know that he pulls no punches. And believe you me, he doesn't here. We usually talk about the first and second parts of the movie, but one might say that even the second half has two halves: when they first arrive in Saigon (a safe, Americanized place), and when they actually go into battle (get ready for things to get ugly).
All in all, maybe this isn't Kubrick's best movie, but definitely worth seeing. Matthew Modine is the nominal star, but there's also Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, and some others. Just get ready to be blown away.