Important but flawed war film

Rating: Null/10 (17 June 2003)

One of Kubrick's last films, Full Metal Jacket is revelatory and frustrating in its look at the much discussed Vietnam war. After such landmarks of war film making such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon and The Deer Hunter all discussing the vietnam war, it begs the question, ten years after the war, do we need another anti-'Nam movie? On the face of it, the answer is a resounding no, and therefore I went into the film with a certain amount of cynicism.
Full Metal Jacket tells the story of Private "Joker" Davis (played by Matthew Modine)through his training to become a "killing machine" through to the heat of combat. Originally wanting to become a reporter on the action in the war, Joker gets involved with a batallion leading to almost heartbreaking consequences. There is a famous two-part structure to this film; the first part being set at a training facility and the second part in Vietnam. This simplicity that Kubrick employs allows greater character development as the viewer's attention is diverted from getting to grips with a narrative (due to its simplicity) and therefore concentrates on the people. In this respect, it is similar to Platoon, as an everyman's view of the war. However the film is far more thematicallt complex from Oliver Stone's movie due to the more ambiguous shades of good/evil, light/dark throughout the piece.
The first part of the film is dominated by R.Lee Emery's foul-mouthed drill instructor giving Kubrick some intensity to play with. Therefore the first section of the movie works brilliantly as the director heaps on satire, humanity and terror. This is helped by Emery's fantastic performance. The second part of the film loses focus but is still strong. The problem with this half is that the two strongest characters (Pyle and Emery's character) do not appear here and thus the film feels formulaic. However the last ten minutes make up for it, with a showdown that rivals Apocalypse Now's final stretch.
Kubrick's penultimate movie is not perfect- it drags in the second half, feels a little cliched and unfocused in tone. However it is a film that should be watched- if only because it is brave enough to criticise not just the war but the people in it, too.