Hoorah!

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2011)

This wasn't a typical war movie as I expected, instead it sort of has the "Full Metal Jacket" vibe to it. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if this movie was influenced by that movie. At the start of the movie I thought it was going to be one of those dull war movies, but it got engaging really quick. It's based off the book, a true story written by Anthony Swofford, his life briefly﻿ before the enlisting, while in the Marines and after and overall it's a good movie. Jake Gyllenhaal did a good job but really started to impress me as the film went along and I liked his character as the film progressed as well. Jamie Foxx put on a great performance playing Staff Sgt. Sykes, slightly reminded me of a young Denzel Washington. I personally liked Peter Sarsgaard character, although his character is a bit of a prick but he is not as obnoxious as the rest of the team and straight to the point. The first 30 minutes was intriguing for the most part than it started to kill time by showing marines goofing off and doing random stuff during their free time, but I guess it showed the bonding aspect of it all. Some people bash on this movie for not having enough action for a war movie, and I know sometimes Drill Sergeants say stuff like "Save the drama for your mama". But this movie is more about the drama than the action, but it's still alright since it's kinda a manly drama. Plus I liked most of the dialogue in this movie. I just wished the impact of the film was as good as the beginning of it, cause the film started to lose it's momentum as it went along. It's basically a war movie with almost no death in it or at least you won't see people dying much, but has great character development for a war movie. Even if this movie isn't really focused on the subject matter like some reviewers claim, it's definitely worth watching, especially since you can get it at walmart for like $5 bucks.
7.5/10