I can't believe "Swoff" let it get away

Rating: 7/10 (3 December 2005)

There are war movies which are based on books, which are so complicated that the movie cannot be fully appreciated without first reading the book; for example, "Catch-22". "Jarhead" should not have been one of those movies. The film easily and brilliantly portrayed scene after scene needed to build Swofford's story and then, towards the end, seemed to drift away from that story towards some surreal quest for Oscar. Of course, nothing in the trailers had prepared me for this. I believe this film could have taken it's place among the great war films such as those it's own characters watched to "pump up". Too bad. I loved the book.