Full Metal Jacket - Great first act, disappointing second

Rating: 7/10 (13 February 2006)

In Stanley Kubrick's second-to-last film, Full Metal Jacket, Private Joker (Matthew Modine) tells an account of what happened to him in Vietnam. The film starts off in a boot camp. Private Joker, along with many other men are forced to follow extremely strict orders by Gunnery Seargeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey). We see how the men are brainwashed into making them emotionally ready for battle. They are screamed at by the Seargeant that they are worthless, punished for the most minor mistake, etc. We meet one of the men, Private Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is the less physically active man who just can't get anything right. He is continuously harassed by the Seargeant, being completely humiliated all the time by the Seargeant and the other men.
In the boot camp, we mostly see the mentality that the army wanted the soldiers to have. The yelling of "I am a killer." shows how these normal men have become something completely different than when they first came in.
After the first half in the boot camp, Private Joker is assigned to be a journalist. For me, that was the point where everything turned into an average film. Many soldiers tell their views about the war, they are now desensitized to the killing of Viatmese soldiers, sometimes even civilians. The conclusion of the movie is quite surprising but they should have added more in my opinion.
For the technical aspects, the direction was fine. Just fine, not excellent, extraordinary or great, I found it just a bit above average. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for Kubrick, I have A Clockwork Orange and 2001 : A Space Odyssey in my top 20 but I didn't feel any genius or brilliance in Full Metal Jacket unlike the movies that I just named. The acting was decent but Vincent D'Onofrio played his character quite well, a very memorable and creepy performance.
In the first half of the movie, I really enjoyed the character development of all the men in the boot camp. It was very good, it really made the viewer think. After we first go to Vietnam, the movie turned into an average war film. To me, nothing really stood out, the quality of the movie suddenly dropped. It wasn't bad, no, it just didn't feel like a Kubrick picture or a "great" film.
Overall, I would still recommend this movie. I was disappointed but there is still a lot of good in it. Much more good than bad by far but I just don't see how it became to be considered as one of the best war movies of all-time.
My rating : 7.5/10 - almost an 8/10