Avoids the usual clichés and is interesting, amusing and quite different from the norm

Rating: Null/10 (6 February 2006)

Lost on his way to college Anthony Swofford finds his way into the Marines where, one quick haircut later, he is assigned to be trained as a scout sniper. He quickly learns how to kill silently from thousands of yards from his target, how to camouflage and how to efficiently carry out orders. His experiences in training are not all wholesome and fun but he is easily hooked by the part of the marines that he has joined. When Saddam invades Kuwait the US moves to defend the oil, sorry, the lives of the Kuwaiti people by mobilising the troops. As part of Operation Desert Shield, Swoff and his colleagues are bored out of their minds with the constant drills, routine and total lack of action, however with Saddam refusing to back down, and Operation Desert Storm about to commence, surely it can only be a matter of time.
Although I have never read it, I understand that the point of the book Jarhead is that nothing at all happens of any significance and that Swofford's "war" was eventless and ended without him firing a shot  something that he had trained endlessly to do. So credit to Mendes then he has just about managed to produce a film that engages and moves forward while not losing this central core aspect. The film does this by focusing equally on the nature of the war and on the effect of this modern warfare on the soldiers. Most of the time the latter works well and it was only sections about Swofford's cheating girlfriend and him losing his mind that didn't ring true. Most of the time the film works best by just being a series of scenes where nothing happens  some of them funny, some of them depressing and many of them just "there". This worked for me because it held my attention regardless which it was doing. Occasionally it has digs at the modern Iraq war but it does this sparingly, which is just as well because none of them really work that well.
Mendes quickly dispenses with the "war is hell" genre by taking away the impact of both Apocalypse Now and Deer Hunter in two scenes that are interesting for very different reasons, and what he is left with is "war is dull". This may not sound like something as worthy or as interesting as "hell" but the film easily shows it is. It shows the men being ratcheted up for killing, only for their training to come to nothing. Several of them say about the Marines giving their lives meaning and direction and it is interesting to watch them being stripped of this point as their time in the desert goes on. It doesn't always convince though and the cracks show where you get the impression that the film is starting to cover ground for the second time but generally I liked how it worked. As director Mendes creates some great scenes that visually stick in the mind while also drawing out performances from his cast that manage to rise above the war movie clichés  in fact only the drill sergeant at the start smacked of being a lesser copy of Full Metal Jacket (although in fairness everything stands in the shadows of Ermey's finest screen moment).
The cast mostly work well with the characters, which is important as, with no significant action to speak of, this is where the vast majority of the film takes place. Gyllenhaal is good in the lead character and is able to convince as someone who gets pumped up with his colleagues as well as someone who has a bit of intelligence about him. Foxx is as solid as I have surprisingly come to expect him to be. He gradually takes his character from "ho-ha" simplicity to a point where his frank discussion with Swofford is convincing and part of a natural softening in his character. Sarsgaard has an interesting character and he brings it out well  with small touches and the breakdown that we know will come to someone eventually. Support is good although nobody really has to do that much in terms of character; minor roles from Cooper and Haysbert were reasonable but not that worthwhile.
Overall an impressive war film that is interesting for avoiding the "war is hell" clichés and producing something different but just as worthy. Swofford's memories are done justice as the film provides just enough structure to prevent it becoming dull but not so much that it forgets the whole point of the source material. Not one of the great war movies but certainly well worth seeing and yet another interesting film from Sam Mendes.