Two movies in one

Rating: 7/10 (12 June 2005)

I really like the way that the Late Stanley Kubrick gives us several movies in one. He did it with 2001 and he's done it again with Full metal Jacket. This really is the hallmark of a great Director...
Part One runs for the first 40 minutes of the movie and is set in the USMC Recruiting Depot in South Carolina. It deals with basic training, where Gunnery Sargeant Hartman teaches men to love their rifles: to sleep with them and give them a girl's name. The whole training routine is dehumanising, and Private Pyle cracks under the pressure. This was the most interesting part of the movie for me, focusing on the psychology of war.
Part Two is set in Vietnam and deals with the politics of war, the nightmare of combat in the field, and the impact on the local people.
The dialogue is spiked with scathing humour, but this is a dark movie which doesn't avoid harsh realities, and it seems appropriate when the end credits roll over a black screen and The Stones sing 'Paint it Black'.