"It's your hard heart that kills."

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2013)

Kubrick's scathing anti-war message begins immediately with a harrowing twenty minute indoctrination into Marine boot camp training that leaves little to the imagination. The acclaimed director hammers the viewer with the relentless battering of young recruit Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio) by the brutal Gunnery Sergeant (R. Lee Ermey), and effectively captures the dehumanizing aspect of preparing killers for the defense of their country. However I'm not convinced that Matthew Modine was the best choice to demonstrate the duality that Kubrick was going for with his 'Born to Kill' helmet juxtaposed with that peace button on his lapel. He wasn't a colorful enough character and didn't demonstrate a set of core values that one could relate to, as his own anti-war sentiment seemed to surface only when the picture shifted to 'in country' as Viet vets used to call it. In fact, none of the soldiers here are particularly memorable, not in the way Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger and Willem Defoe are remembered for their portrayals in "Platoon". The picture is at it's wicked best during the early boot camp sequence, but loses some focus during the battle at Hue City. The identity of the sniper was a clever twist, and I think this is where Kubrick most effectively demonstrated the duality he was going for, by showing us that it wasn't Joker's hard heart that made him pull the trigger, but his compassion for another human being. He then brings the absurdity of all war home by having the soldiers return to base camp while singing the Mickey Mouse Club theme song. The post-Viet Nam decade brought forth a significant number of critically acclaimed films, and it's tough to choose a 'best' when you have such offerings as "Platoon", "Apocalypse Now" and "The Deer Hunter" in the mix, all of which have strong statements to make about the inherent inhumanity of all war.