A Kubrick Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (24 April 2008)

Full Metal Jacket has been an underrated film at times, but its good that its in the top 250 movies. Full Metal Jacket is an Anti-War, as well as an Anti-Vietnam film and shows Kubrick talent and politics.
Full Metal Jacket is a movie in two halves, first on boot-camp and the dehumanising of recruits and the second in Vietnam, looking at Private/Sergeant Joker's (Michael Modine) career as a military journalist, the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Hue. The first half looks at how recruits were trained, and how Private Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio) was bullied by his Drill Sergeant (R. Lee Ermey) and other recruit to point he is driven to looking his mind, murders and before committing suicide. The second half shows that the US army was fairly hopeless during the war, destroying Vietnamese towns and killing and exploiting or killing the locals. A few women were prostituting themselves to American soldiers. At the end of the film it is shown that a 12-year-old girl was a sniper and ends up getting killed. Some people have argued that Full Metal Jacket was a neutral film: however it is obvious that its an Anti-War film.
The first half of the film is the best, but the second half is still very good compared to other films. The opening scene was a classic bit of cinema and R. Lee Ermey does steal the show with his performance. A little be of trivia is that Ermey was hired to be an adviser to the person who would play the Drill Sergeant. However Kubrick saw a video of him shouting 15 minutes worth of insults without stopping or repeating himself, so Kubrick casted him in the role. The Drill Sergeant is shown to be a religious and sadist, but a stereotype. During this part of the film shows how the human soul is destroyed by the training and how recruits become heartless beings. The second half shows how the war was fought and that soldiers were at times heartless. Full Metal Jacket takes a different approach to other Vietnam films by showing a urban battle, and how brutal an affair it was.
The film has some great dark comedy in it, a trait of Kubrick, shown in Dr. Strangelove, Lolita and A Clockwork Orange. The Drill Sergeant was the best at it and comes up with some classic film quotes. Joker was also a good comedic character and other characters do come up with witty comments. Kubrick's anti-war politics is show and Full Metal Jacket shows how destructive the Vietnam war was on the country. Kubrick's other anti-war films were Paths of Glory and Dr. Strangelove.
The film is excellent, the only two problems what the second half being a little weaker and that it was filmed in England, and therefore doesn't have quite the same feel to other Vietnam films.
Full Metal Jacket is Kubrick classic and a must see for film lovers.