Hell, parts I and II.

Rating: 8/10 (14 October 2013)

I'm not a war movie buff, but I do want to see everything that Stanley Kubrick has made and if it's supposed to be a classic, I'll usually want to check it out. This one I've seen several times before, and I can't deny that this is a good film, especially the first part. That first part focuses on order and discipline, while second part descends (more) into chaos and debauchery, but both parts represent a certain kind of hell, facing their own conundrums.
Kubrick is an important filmmaker, I won't deny it, but here his craftsmanship is mainly limited to a very neat registration of what is going on. Kubrick observes, or better yet, he lets the viewer observe - no more, no less. But in the first part the acting of D'Onofrio and Ermey is so superb that it's almost impossible to top. Personally, I think that in the second part only the sniper girl in the end really matches their intensity, though Modine especially plays well, too.
A small 8 out of 10.