A "masterpiece"

Rating: 6/10 (2 May 2015)

I rarely write movie reviews. And when I do, there must be a serious reason. Overall ratings which don't correspond to the reality, annoying movies that shouldn't someone even think to watch or unrepeatable masterpieces (rarely). This time I wondered how did this film managed to get an 8.3 and climb at IMDb's top 100! Many movies got criticized for much less. I understand that Vietnam War is a delicate subject for U.S.A. and scarred thousands of Americans over the years so the symbolisms of the movie and the emotional part are justified. But these are not enough to lift this movie to the best of the best of all times. The first half an hour is spent with a bad ass sergeant screaming and insulting the new recruits with a variety of silly swears and jokes. OK, anyone who has served even for a while knows that there are many crazy officers who would make your life even harder than it is already and I understand the need of the director to intone that but after 10'-15' the screams and swears just get embarrassing. We also have a fat "wanna-be" marine who can't even pass the basics to become a marine but after getting bullied a night by his companions he becomes a committed soldier but also starts becoming quite cracked to kill his superior sergeant and commit suicide in the end. In every country and every army of the world serving tests your personal limits and your state of mind, it's not a marine training originality nor a prerequisite to experience the Vietnam conflict. And of course anyone with few knowledge about the army could direct the first half. A bunch of recruits, a screaming officer, some training scenes and here you are. Where is the character development? Where are the relations developed between fellow new recruits, which are so important? Where is the tough training which is gonna crack you? Where's solidarity and mutual help? We barely see a couple of scenes showing this stuff in half an hour! And then we get to the second half. The story follows a marine who serves as a military journalist in Vietnam. And when he gets there, in of the most cruel war-fields of all times, which caused the mental instability of dozens of soldiers, where death was an every hour phenomenon in the first line, he joins a squad of happy soldiers, who make jokes all the time, have fun with whores and only their appearance implies their hardships. Even the losses of their squad are taken too easily by the fellow members. War looks like a game to everyone. And finally, what do we learn about the opponent? Instead of developing enough the opponent side, we learn that Vietnamese civilians steal from Americans, their women serve as whores and they don't like American help. What we learn about Vietcongs? They are communists, they kill civilians and hate Americans. I believe that if this movie hadn't the name of Kubrick behind it there would be at least 2 points down of its current rating. 2 for the music, 2 for the meaning and symbolisms, 2 for the general effort. I do not wish to insult anyone. This is just a critic of mine, expressing my personal opinion. Take care, Christos.