Stanley Kubrick takes on the Vietnam War and the duality of man.

Rating: 10/10 (30 April 2005)

This film will endlessly be compared to Oliver Stone's Platton which was released the year before it. I place Full Metal Jacket above Platoon only marginally. There's something about the way Stanley Kubrick shot that makes it stand above other films based during war times. One scene that sticks out in my mind is the one where the platoon is standing around the dead bodies of two of their fallen comrades in a circle. Kubrick places the camera in the middle of them so that it shoots a low angle shot looking into their faces. He then has them to say a single farewell statement to the fallen soldiers. The beauty in this is that the statements express each soldiers personification. I'm reminded of Citizen Kane, where the entire dialog of that film reflects each person's personification. Every time a word is uttered it reflects their personality and yet the dialog is as believable as they come. What Kubrick did in the scene I just mentioned is a simplified version of that method but it works wonderfully. He proves that it it possible to develop characters with few words and with even fewer actions.
This film is magnificent. Is it Kubrick's best? No. Is it his most beautiful? No. 2001 will always have that spot in my heart. Is it a classic? You'd better believe it.
10/10 Highly recommended.