World of S***

Rating: Null/10 (30 April 2001)

This is possibly my favorite Kubrick film. And absolutely my favorite war film. 'Full Metal Jacket' gives you a look into the lives of our Marines during the Vietnam War; a very vivid, disturbing, eye-opening look. Once again, like with all of his films, Stanley Kubrick has done a perfect casting job. Matthew Modine's performance as Private Joker combines the ideal combination of detachment from his experience and complete and utter humanity. Nicknamed Private Joker by his drill sergeant on Paris Island, Modine's character adds the dark humor to 'Jacket', a quality prominent in all Kubrick films. There are many unforgettable characters that add so much to this film; a Drill Instructor with possibly the most creative and amusing dialogue I've seen in a Kubrick film, and several marines with largely varying ideas about the war. 'Why are you boys here in Vietnam?' asks a new reporter, one marine responds 'Freedom', the next responds 'Poontang'. 'Full Metal Jacket' plays almost like a documentary, first exposing life going through boot camp and then directly into warfare, it also shows the process that so many Marines actually went through, practically brainwashing men into 'killers', developing 'the thousand yard stare' after being in the killing fields for too long. The most disturbing scene for me is one where a marine is shooting a machine gun out of a helicopter aiming at innocent civilians. `How can you kill women and children?' asks Private Joker, the marine responds laughing `Easy, you don't lead 'em so much! Ain't war Hell?' Indeed, war is Hell for these marines and 'Full Metal Jacket' exposes for all their 'world of s***'.