great premise...but could have been much better

Rating: 7/10 (27 April 2006)

I had an opportunity to read the novel "jarhead:the marine chronicles" ....while in the novel the complete psychological breakdown of anthony swafford is depicted in a brutally realistic manner,The film omits most of these portions.It abruptly stops at a certain point and leaves a lot to be desired.It starts off in a very promising fashion and holds your interest for about ninety minutes but slacks off towards the end.Somehow i was slightly disappointed.....
However maybe by fine tuning it a little bit more sam mendes could have created a masterpiece surpassing apocalypse now....His previous venture American beauty is a masterpiece of all sorts.....
Even though the movie does not have long drawn out battle scenes like saving private ryan or taegukgi....it does manage to deliver the psychological punch with it's use of visceral profanity and realistic depiction of the lives of marines....
But i would not even think of putting it alongside great war movies like full metal jacket,platoon,deer hunter,SPR,taegukgi etc......
And i was pleasantly surprised with jack gyllenhal's performance..he is one actor we should watch out for.
All in all recommended viewing for great cinematography,visuals and realism..but there is something lacking,The film will leave you asking for more...it falls short of the expectations which it sets for itself....