One of the best war films ever made

Rating: 9/10 (30 October 2013)

For me, Jarhead is one of the best war films ever made, and certainly the best on the Kuwait conflict. It was not until after the film I checked reviews for it, and was shocked to find it being overlooked and criticised because of it's "lack of action". This shows an utter misinterpretation of the film, one of the main themes of which is the unbelievable build up to what was a 4 day ground battle, in which Jake Gyllenhaal remarks that he "never even fired my rifle". The long, drawn out wait for that "one kill" is what drives the movie, and was something I found completely fascinating. I would highly recommend you watch it, or if you watched it and didn't enjoy it, re-watch it, thinking about it from this angle. It is an enthralling, realistic account of a soldier's life in war.