Paint It Black

Rating: 10/10 (5 May 2007)

Stanley Kubrick takes us on a voyage into darkness with this humanity tale of the horrors of the Vietnam war and how it affects the human beings who went through it. This is a story of people, real people and what they must do to survive in the harsh world of military boot camp and, ultimately, in the depths of hell.
We see this world of terror through the wide eyes of Matthew Modine. During his stay at Parris Island, he meets his extremely tough sergeant, R. Lee Ermey, and he learns that all of the other recruits are just like he is. Many people believe that boot camp is the highlight of the film and I can see why. I can't think of another movie that makes the viewer feel worried for their own sake when someone is yelling at another character.
The first half really sets us up for what's to come. We get to understand our protagonist and end up feeling just like he does. Modine is an everyman type that you can't help but feel for. You know what's going though his head in the bathroom scene because you're thinking the same thing.
After boot camp, we're thrust right into the Vietnam scene. Not with combat, but with the way it really was. Prostitutes walking down streets and giving venereal diseases to the soldiers who bring them back home are some of the things you think about when you see the city landscape of where we are.
If you've seen and love war movies like I do, you know that after the first combat scene, the feeling of having bullets flying by you just isn't the same. It's different with Full Metal Jacket. The tension in those scenes is drawn out so much that you're hooked into the moment so that even your heart is racing. I believe that these scenes are the best part of the film because there are very few war films that can do that.
What makes Full Metal Jacket different from others of its genre is that we know all of the characters. We've met people or are very close friends with characters like Animal, Cowboy, Hartmann, and even Pyle. Very few films do that anymore and to have a war movie do it is something you can't take for granted.
The finale sums up everything about the 1950s and '60s. It was the end of an era. When you see the scene, you realize the innocence that was taken away from this country so violently. An entire generation was lost because of this conflict and the world was changed forever.