Kubrick at home, but not at his best

Rating: 9/10 (19 May 2003)

Full Metal Jacket is Stanley Kubrick's way of hopping on the Hollywood bandwagon of mass-produced Vietnam movies inspired by Platoon. While "Platoon" went into the great ethical questions of war, "Full Metal Jacket" aims for plain vulgarity. Every character is a dehumanized sociopath in one form or another. Whether this was intentional or not is unknown.
Kubrick's movies tend to feature men at war. That is one of his most common motifs, but it is rarely exploited to its fullest measure. Here he tries too hard and the scenes in Vietnam lack the precision of his earlier work. While the film certainly is a leap compared to "The Shining", and Kubrick tries to be inventive and different, it boils down to blowing things up and profanity.
The Parris Island opening, of course, is what this movie is all about. Eremy earned every penny of his paycheck as the almost psychotic Senior Drill Instructor with plenty of 'advice' and who could pummel the tobacco juice out of you at a whim. Thankfully, the dehumanizing point is made clear here thanks to him. Kudos.
Overall, worth a look once, but maybe not twice. See "Hamburger Hill" instead for a better look inside the VietNam War. 3.5 out of 5 stars.