"The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive."

Rating: 10/10 (21 April 2016)

"The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive." This is just one of the milder quotes from a controversial film titled Full Metal Jacket that Stanley Kubrick adapted from a book written by Gustav Hasford by the name of Short Timers. This is a review of the movie that is second only to Apocalypse Now as the all-time greatest Vietnam War movie. This film, Full Metal Jacket has great special effects, the actors portrayed their parts perfectly, and the stage is set very realistically for the time period represented in the picture. The actors were born for the parts that they played in this movie. There are two main actors in the first part of this film that really stand out. R. Lee Ermey plays the part of the Marine Drill Instructor, Gunnery Sgt. Hartman. Vincent D' Onofrio plays the part of boot camp recruit who comes to be known as Private Pyle. Onofrio does a great job at being a screw up who finally loses all control and flips out. Other recruits are played by Matthew Modine who is Pvt. Joker; Arliss Howard plays Pvt. Cowboy, Adam Baldwin as Animal Mother and Dorian Harewood who plays Eightball. These four all do great jobs portraying boot camp trainees, and then as soldiers as the movie progresses. There are many more actors in this movie but these are the main ones that the storyline revolves around. R. Lee Ermey was a real life drill instructor with the Marine Corps for 11 years and served two tours in Vietnam before becoming involved in filmmaking. This is one reason that he played the part so realistically and did such a good job. The directors could not have picked better actors to play in a movie that would immerse the audience into the times. This film is full of great special effects that combine visual and auditory sequences that will rattle the audiences mind. One of the first special effects that stand out is when Private Pyle kills the drill instructor and then proceeds to blow his own brains out. This is a very graphic scene and not for an audience with a weak stomach. While watching this scene the observer could almost feel the impact of the rifle round as the blood, bones and brains appeared to splatter on the wall behind his head. There are many more instances of graphic bloody scenes throughout the film that all appear as very realistic and are very well done. .Special visual effects are frequently combined with auditory effects to create very realistic scenes. There is bloody street fighting, ambushes, and booby traps that surround the audience with sensory perceptions and immerse them in the scene on the screen. The sound of music fades into the sound of helicopter rotors beating the air. This then fades into automatic gunfire. These are the familiar sounds of Vietnam. This is what a soldier remembers; the sights and sounds of a hostile land far from home in 1968.This all adds to the ambiance and pulls the audience into the experience of the film. The time period was the mid to late 60''s. There was rebellion in many forms. The United States was in a war that many thought had no purpose. Stanley Kubrick brings this time period alive in this film. Parris Island Marine training boot camp is very well duplicated in this film even though they were shot at an army base in England. The year is around 1967. The drill instructors were really like this during this era. The music in the picture captures the time period beautifully. Though this picture was filmed entirely in England, the audience could not tell that it wasn't America, and Vietnam, both were captured beautifully. The Beckton Gas Works which was abandoned and condemned became the war torn city of Hue. Kubrick spent months recreating the war torn city by destroying the gas works, blowing up buildings and using a wrecking ball on others using pictures of Hue from 1968 as a guide. By doing this, it appeared to the audience that the scenes of war and destruction were very real. To make England look more like tropical Vietnam, Kubrick had 200 palm trees flown in from Spain and 100,000 plastic jungle plants were added from Hong Kong. The extra trouble made the audience feel as though they were in the jungles of Vietnam. This is how England in 1987 was transformed into Vietnam in 1968. Special effects played a large part in making this film so interesting. This was a very powerful movie that left viewers with the feeling that they were there, in Vietnam, in 1968. After watching this film the viewer can begin to understand what Pvt. Joker meant when he spoke of the dead and their feelings about life. Stanley Kubrick sort of creates his own Vietnam Conflict in this film, as it would naturally contain his point of view of the times. Some may find it twisted and exaggerated, but it is a movie well worth watching.