Typical Kubrick - Another side of the human behavior

Rating: 7/10 (19 November 2012)

Typical Stanley Kubrick - shock & awe. Mr.Kubrick has this typical style to portray extremities of the human behavior when under pressure or showcasing the delusional side of the human mind. He did it in "The Shining", The clockwork orange and now again in FMJ.
Many war movies have been made that take the viewer through how and why American wars were futile and without purpose. FMJ takes the same topic and shows it in typical Kubrick style - extreme side of human behavior which is sometimes delusional, background sets in line with the mood of the movie, script which shocks the viewer. FMJ does not really have a plot, but a good script. The script builds up the confusion which war has created in the minds of these so-called men. They do not know what they are fighting for - some are patriots without reason, some love guns, some are trigger happy cowboys who just want to shoot NVA (north Vietnamese army). The initial training drills on the island described the brainwash that marines are made to go through to make them brain-dead killing-on-order zombies. Even if some of them realize the futility of it all, they continue to do it so that they confirm to the larger madness. Joker had realized that but he still punished Pyle Lawrence, which eventually led Lawrence to shoot the sergeant and commit suicide.
The script then shows how these "Trained Marines" act in the field. During the sniper scene, there was no plan which the marines were following - they were randomly moving around which got 3 of them killed, acting on pure motion, defying direct orders from platoon leader and looking for payback when the third soldier is killed. Stanley Kubrick shows brilliantly what war does to young men - it turns marines into brainless mercenaries thirsty for blood. These marines thoughtlessly sing the mickey mouse song once they have killed their targets.
Camera-work was typical Stanley Kubrick style adapting as per the scene's requirements- hand-held camera when the marines are moving made the viewer feel as if he is present there and moving along with the marines, camera showing what the NVA sniper sees making the viewer skip a heartbeat and adding to the thrill factor.
All in all, this is a different and typical Kubrick style of cinema. Though I still felt that maybe this was an incomplete movie, but then again, wars are pointless. This could have been dragged the same way as shown in Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", but guess it conveyed the same point in half the time. 7.5 out of 10 for me.