Malingering malady...

Rating: 6/10 (8 September 2014)

FULL METAL JACKET suffers from the same malady that plagued the even less well-realized FROM DUSK TIL DAWN (the first one): the first half is interesting enough to hold one's attention, while the second half is all over the road. What makes the second half of FULL METAL JACKET nigh intolerable are the clearly contrived scenes (some of the worst, most clearly STAGED scenes you're ever likely to see in a feature film) , coupled with shockingly amateurish performances. The greatest failing of the Great Technician (Kubrick) has always been the on-screen performances of his players: from THE KILLING to FULL METAL JACKET, his films have always relied more on behind-the-scenes TECHNIQUES than on on-screen performances; it's what makes THE SHINING a mediocre movie, and what makes A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, in the final analysis, little more than an exercise in cinematography (long, uncut master shots that play out ever so slowly). Like Dario Argento, Kubrick was more Technician than Storyteller.