A Harrowing Journey Of Man From A Human To A Killing Machine!

Rating: Null/10 (7 November 2015)

Having earlier shown the futility & irony of warfare in Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick returns to the genre of war once again to observe the tactics used by military to transform its newly recruited marine corps into killing war machines and captures the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War had on soldiers through the eyes of Pvt. Joker, who is also the narrator of the film. What does it take to transform a normal human being into a remorseless assassin? Full Metal Jacket is Kubrick's attempt to answer that question.
Full Metal Jacket is a two segments story. The first one concerns a new batch of US Marine Corps recruits who arrive at Parris Island for training under the command of Sgt. Hartman, their strict, disciplined & foul-mouthed senior drill inspector. Hartman employs a rigorous training regimen to turn his recruits into marines ready for combat and is severely harsh on a dim-witted & overweight recruit whom he nicknames Pvt. Pyle. The second part follows Joker, one of the recruits, and covers his harrowing experience in Vietnam.
Co-written, produced & directed by Stanley Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket is definitely amongst the finest depictions of dehumanization on film canvas and works perfectly on many levels. Kubrick's direction is absolutely flawless in the first half but it stumbles slightly in the next half only to rise again during its nail-biting climax to finish on a high note. Cinematography has always been influential in Kubrick's films & this one is no exception. And with all things considered, it easily qualifies as one of the most technically sound examples of its genre.
Coming to the performances, Full Metal Jacket features many unforgettable characters and Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio & R. Lee Ermey do terrific job in their given roles which elevates the film to a much better status than it would've been otherwise. Modine plays Pvt. Joker, who joined the US Marine Corps to see combat and the film is, on a superficial level, his story only. D'Onofrio devotes himself completely to his character of Pvt. Pyle and does a remarkable job in illustrating the transition of his character from a naive & clumsy recruit to a pure psychopath.
But the real highlight amongst the entire cast is Lee Ermey as drill inspector Sgt. Hartman and thanks to his powerful, intense & show-stealing rendition, his performance easily ranks amongst the most dominating, memorable & extraordinary portrayals in cinema history. He is extremely punishing, mean, sarcastic & clever but when one considers his job of turning random men into heartless killers so that they can survive the horrors of war, the character of Hartman becomes fully justified. And out of all the amazing characters in Kubrick's films, Sgt. Hartman is undoubtedly my favourite.
The entire film, on a closer look, is a study of duality. The two segments this film is divided into are completely different in their plot & treatment. The characters, during their arrival in Vietnam, are neither entirely compassionate humans nor cold-hearted assassins and seem to be battling moral dilemmas. Pvt. Joker wears a peace symbol on his jacket while "Born to Kill" is written on his helmet. And there are many more references of duality such as that. Pointlessness of war, military brainwashing & dehumanization are other themes it deals with and all of these are addressed in an expert manner.
On an overall scale, there are very few war films out there which so meticulously depict the gruesome effects war has on human psyche and Full Metal Jacket is unquestionably one of them. The first half of this film clearly outshines the second half in almost every filmmaking department because of which it may disappoint some viewers. But it has all the trademarks of a Kubrick masterpiece and remains one of his most entertaining works. In Joker's words, it tells how important a human life is & how lucky it is to be alive and, on the whole, it's one of Stanley Kubrick's most tightly crafted films that is aesthetic, artistic & influential in every possible manner.