Nice first part but the second one is disappointing

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2015)

Full Metal Jacket is divided in two parts, one takes place in South Carolina, the other one in Vietnam. It shows war machines instead of soldiers. The training in South Carolina is managed by a sadistic boss who takes away the innocence and all hopes of the young boys. Kubrick made a satire not only of war, but of all America, through patriotic songs, yells instead of discussions, and constant humiliations. The aim is to make understand people that soldiers learned their lesson : as the famous helmet says, they are now born to kill. Despite the length of a few scenes, I think it was important to point out the psychological evolution of characters, which make the first part a good part of the movie.
As for the second part Vietnam; it is much more boring and useless. It is basically a succession of very similar scenes. I think the director wanted to focus on too many elements which are propaganda, soldiers, living conditions etc, it was too ambitious for a two-hours movie. The other issue is that sometimes, Kubrick only focused on music and images without anything else in the script.