review for jarhead

Rating: 1/10 (16 March 2006)

I watched Jarhead recently with much anticipation, as we all know the subject of the first Gulf War hasn't been done justice in Hollywood yet, and I was hoping that this would finally be the one. I am also a big Jamie Fox fan as of late, and I liked Jake G. in a couple movies, not so much in others. The movie starts out in boot camp, pretty much using the 'full metal jacket' formula only somewhat diluted, with Jake G. as the center of the film's attention, and Jamie Fox, as his unit leader, and then it progresses eventually to their deployment to the Gulf. The film, while probably catching the true experience of being in the Marines in that time period, portrays way too accurately the tedium and boredom that goes along with military life I suppose. I found myself about halfway through the movie asking what is the point of this film? What dismayed me was that I could not figure out where the director was going with this movie except to continue to capture more and more mind-numbing boredom of a soldier's life. The characters are developed in such a way that no one really stands out at all with the exception of Jake G., but as the movie progresses I felt myself really disliking his character and with good reason. About three quarters of the way through the movie I started to wish that the film would pick up the pace.
Eventually combat does commence, but to me it was presented so unrealistically (Jake G., in his first combat experience, says a couple of silly one-liners and acts more like a serene Dali lama than scared kid while mortars are zeroing in on them) that it didn't draw me in. I ended up turning the movie off and not finishing it which I've only done twice before in my life. I wanted to give this film more than one star but since I was not able to finish the thing I can't.