Kubrick knew what he was doing ...

Rating: Null/10 (13 September 1999)

Full Metal Jacket is a fantastic war film, brutal and unforgiving. I won't repeat anymore praise for the film, except to comment on the 2 'halves' of the film. It is often said that the 1st part of the film is fantastic while the latter falls apart, having no structure. I believe this was Kubrick's exact intention. The first part takes place in boot camp, a highly structured and disciplined environment, and we feel this, along with the unnerving, relentless verbal abuse of the drill seargent. Kubrick wanted us to feel like we were there in boot camp, just another scared kid being turned into a killing machine. In the second half, the movie has no structure, with the characters wandering from one place to another with no long term goals, which is how the war in Vietnam was conducted. The "structure" provided in boot camp for these "killers" is not present in Vietnam, which may be Kubrick's explanation for how so many atrocities could occur there. Kubrick, as always, was true to his cinematic vision without pandering to the attention span of the audience. So, what seems like a poor 2nd half to some is actually a more faithful account of what Vietnam was like, probably the most unstructured, undisciplined war America has ever fought. Like all Kubrick films, Full Metal Jacket has more than meets the eye.