I was surprised for the best

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2006)

When I went to watch this movie, I did so reluctantly. I was interested in watching it, though only a bit. Mostly I just went because my friends were going. I was expecting another war movie, a genre I grew tired of. And boy, was I in for a treat.
Jarhead isn't a typical war movie. The difference, which also makes this movie transcend other movies in the genre, is the fact that there isn't much war going on. This movie doesn't focus on the horrors of war, but rather on how the soldiers look forward to the war, how much that waiting and constant training ruins their lives, and how deeply it hurts them that it was all for nothing. They spend more than 150 days in the desert for a 4-day war that ended without them engaging in combat. The main character, Swoff, lost his girlfriend while waiting in the desert. The boredom, the constant anticipation for nothing, nearly cost him his sanity. And all for what? In his own words, he didn't even fire his gun once.
He will forever be a marine, whether he likes to or not. Which is also another point the movie makes - it will be a part of him forever. But I found the subject of what that waiting can do to you, and the disappointment of not doing anything after all that training and waiting and morale, to be more interesting, and more moving.
This is a great movie. It's different from most war movies, and it's far better than most. In this movie, words speak louder than actions. A must-see.