Beautifully shot film with an edge of sympathy that isn't usually evident in this genre.

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2006)

In this film we follow the lives of a marine corps of snipers through their training to their action (or what turns out to be very little action) in the 'Desert Storm' war in Iraq in the early 1990s. I had read a few reviews of this film before seeing it and I have to say that I disagree with any calling it 'flat', 'slow' or 'boring'. If you are a film watcher that cannot concentrate for very long and just want to see a film with impressive skirmish scenes, this is not the film for you. However, Sam Mendes has created a film with some very impressive cinematography that paradoxes beautifully against the tedium the soldiers feel in their wait for their crack at some action.
The other reviewer for this film talks of how refreshed he felt seeing a film in this genre that captures the essence of war without engaging in the politics behind it. I however do not agree with this statement. The whole film is brimming with political and humanitarian satire. The breakdown of many of the soldier's relationships with wives and girlfriends during their extended stay away "serving their country" is dealt with with remarkable tenderness as it battles the sky high testosterone levels and egos as would be imagined in such a military environment.
What I believe to be the finest scene of the film pictures the soldiers being rained on from the black skies of tar due to the oil wells being a blaze in every direction, digging their 'sleeping holes', as a helicopter flies over their heads playing The Doors' 'Break on Through to the Other Side' over a loudspeaker. Jake Gyllenhaal's character looks over to his friends, dejected after months of inactivity, and remarks "This music isn't even for our war". Having come from a family with a Vietnam vet for a father, a theme that reappears with this main character throughout the film is that the war isn't one he should be involved in as an young American man.
The question that this film raises, in common with other films of its genre, is... "Is it all worth it?". With the final scene showing us Jake Gyllenhaal's character coming home to his life as a normal citizen, to a girlfriend that he learns has left him and found another guy, we're really left with the feeling that no, it wasn't worth it at all.
A great film with a deeply satirical view on a soldiers life, ambition, and ultimately their use weighed up against how much they sacrifice in order to 'serve their country'.