Great War Pic

Rating: 8/10 (23 March 2012)

Jarhead is a great, great movie. Superb performances by Gyllenhaal, Foxx, and Sarsgaard. It reflected the war from a soldiers point of view very well, and evenly balanced both views of how Bush and his administration is handling it. Either way, though, these men were taught to ignore politics and do what they were told, because arguing why they were there was pointless in the end. My only wish is that we could've seen a little more of Chris Cooper, whose one scene was very well presented indeed. The writing seemed to reflect an almost love hate relationship with the Marines, showing both the honor and the bullshit of loyalty and rules. On the whole, this movie was moving and entertaining, and in a small sense, enlightening. And for a girl who isn't a big fan of masculine shoot-em-up war movies (which this very much is), I was surprisingly pleased.