Pointless

Rating: 3/10 (25 April 2006)

This may well be an accurate interpretation of one mans experience of Desert Shield / Storm but if that interpretation was little more than a random meandering of frustration, boredom and pent up aggression then, valid as these emotions may be, one wonders why it was deemed film worthy. One of the film's core issues did offer some interest , specifically the question, " how does a man who is trained to kill react when he is not offered the opportunity to put his training into practice"? The answer though was as deeply unsatisfying as it was trite. The answer, according to Marine Swofford, is childish tantrums and kitchen sink moralising. It was always going to take some delicate handling to find the precarious middle ground that exists between the gung ho soldier movie and the soul searching emotional exploration and , to this reviewers mind at least, Mendes has not even come close. Jarheads was loud, brash and noisy but, ultimately, had very little to say. We continue to wait then, for a gulf war movie that tells us something that we don't already know.