an interesting movie with themes as ambiguous as the troops' reason for being there at all

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2005)

First off and foremost, this movie is stunning to look at. Sand dunes at night with flames in the background, oil rain, burnt sand all look beautiful in Mendes' third film. But looking at his previous two films we know that he not only has a flair for imagery but also a rather firm grasp on story telling and plot. But Jarhead is different. It is the story of the Desert Shield operation leading up to the short Desert Storm, and it is told from Tony Swoffard's (sp?) point of view. Going into the movie I think my girlfriend and also the couple sitting next to us all thought they were going to see a war movie, and it also happened to have some popular actors and Kanye West music. But I had read the book before hand, and so I already knew that the movie was going to be more about the inaction of their war, their boredom, their insanity, their circus as Swoffard calls it, and less about politics, war, explosions, death, etc. However, that is exactly what the backdrop is. I think my girlfriend finally realized that there was not going to be any spectacular fight scene at the point where Swoffard is sitting on a burnt-out box surrounded by corpses burnt to a crisp and exploded cars, all remnants of the war that he and his marines never got to actually be part of, but were forced to be completely paranoid of. This is a character sketch that alludes to greater themes but never fully exposes them. But this is where I thought the movie worked its true magic. In seems in the recent debates over the current Iraq conflict that the general consensus is that we can "all agree the first one was justified", that perhaps the personal stories of the first Gulf War, like Swoffard's, are being glossed over. He makes his point that 350,000+ US troops had similar experiences to him, they were trained to use a gun, to kill, to be a soldier, and now back in the US almost 15 years later they cannot forget it. The acting was top notch, Jake Gyllenhal once again is great, Sarsgard is truly an engrossing character actor, and personally, not sure of his name, but the actor who played Kruger I thought was great! Jamie Foxx is always fun to watch as well. Well worth the trip to the theater if for nothing else but the visuals, but also if you are ready to do a little bit of thinking on your own and decided whether you like what Swofford has to say or not. Done.