Solid War Film. Kubrick's Best Work.

Rating: Null/10 (19 October 2003)

Stanley Kubrick directed this Vietnam War film. It's a solid film that doesn't get boring and is suprisingly funny, thanks to R. Lee Ermey. It's a good thing I was able to see this film, because I thought Kubrick was a horrible film maker who made Eyes Wide Shut and the average Clockwork Orange. But this made me realise it was just those two films.
Full Metal Jacket follows a squad of soldiers (Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio and more) training for the Vietnam War under the very scrict and very funny drill instructor (R. Lee Ermey, who was a real drill instructor many years ago). It shows how these normal men become savage killers without a care. Then halfway through the film, they end up in Vietnam where they do constint battle with the North Vietnamese soldiers.
The performances in this are really good, especially R. Lee Ermey and Vincent D'Onofrio who did a fantastic job as a soldier who went crazy from all the brutality of training. It may not be as good as other Vietnam War films, such as Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter or Platoon, but it's still good. I even think that this film copied Platoon, since it was made a year later and the poster of FMJ is very similar to Platoon's original poster, where they have soldier helmets with writing on it. But like I said, it's still good.
Rating: 3/5