Harrowing, chilling, idiossyncratic take on the Vietnam war

Rating: Null/10 (13 April 2003)

Stanley Kubrick's take on the Vietnam war is typically chilling and idiossyncratic, following a Marine platoon from basic training at Parris Island to actual combat during the Tet offensive; but it's the training sequences (the film's first half) that everyone remembers, thanks to the superb performances of Lee Ermey as the brutal drill instructor sergeant and Vincent d'Onofrio as the "odd man out" that he picks on and eventually leads to a violent breakdown (Ermey was an actual Marine instructor and had originally been hired as the film's technical advisor - then Kubrick got the inspired idea of casting him in the role). The film's muted reception wasn't helped by its timing - after "Apocalypse Now", "The Deer Hunter" and "Platoon", it didn't seem at the time as if Kubrick had put a new spin on the subject. With hindsight, however, the film is as harrowing as any of its predecessors, tracing as it does the de-humanisation of the soldier, his transformation into a killing machine, and following it to its logical conclusion, the war theatre, to see how it all turns out (not surprisingly, the only soldier whose real name we are told instead of its military handle is the only one that never makes it through the training). Majestically directed and photographed, and surprisingly shot entirely on British locations.