Very close to perfection, but not entirely there

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2004)

If I were to describe this movie with one word, I would say 'unsettling'. Then again, I suppose this could be said about most of Stanley Kubrick's films. I've seen a few of his films lately, and have become quite a fan of his work... so far I've seen A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey and this one(I've seen The Shining as well, but that was before I knew who Kubrick was and what kind of a director he was, so I didn't fully enjoy it). While I think both aforementioned titles are better than this one(if only slightly), I really did like this film. And while it isn't the best war film ever made, it is definitely one of the better. The film consists of two parts(though they aren't really that separated... and they are both parts of the same story), the first part being about the boot camp which trains the Marines, and the second one being about the Vietnam war. Both parts have essentially the same point and theme... and both deliver it quite well. However, there are a few flaws in the film... it seems uneven, somehow. Some of the scenes, especially in the beginning of the second part, seemed pointless and overlong. Kubrick is famed for his uncanny ability to set a mood and keep it, which makes his films more effective and even harder to watch than they were just with the chilling visuals and excellent use of music. However, here, he seemed almost lost for a few scenes... things didn't seem to go anywhere... maybe he's just not used to doing such a grand project... yes, he was a very ambitious director, with very big films on his resume... but I'm not sure if he had done something on this scale before(or after), so that might be it. Of course, this doesn't mean that the film is bad... not by a long shot. There were just a few scenes that seemed to have little importance... and the voice-over narration seemed tacked on, if you ask me. Like he was trying to implement it, but sufficed to just throwing it in here and there. The plot is great. The pacing is good, but not perfect. The acting is flawless. The characters are well-written and credible. The music/score is excellent. Kubrick always manages to put in music that sounds really good in scenes that contain disturbing and unpleasant visuals to great effect. The film as a whole is a little flawed but I didn't find anything horribly wrong with the film. Great film with great theme. Any fan of Kubrick should enjoy this. This is possibly the most spoofed/referenced war film of all time... and it's the film that gave R. Lee Ermey the character that he would play for basically the rest of his career. That says something about how crafty and influential this film is, I think. I recommend this film to any fan of Stanley Kubrick and/or war movies. 9/10