Missing some elements to really hit its target

Rating: 5/10 (18 January 2006)

Sam Mendes, director of "American Beauty," the critically acclaimed film that brought him an Academy Award for Best Director, brings to the big screen "Jarhead," a movie based on Andy "Swoff" Swofford's war memoir, which is more or less the same kind of war film we've all seen before. In it, Swoff is played by "Brokeback Mountain" co-star Jake Gyllenhaal and the film shows in its gritty language and sardonic humor the former sniper's recounts of how they live each day fighting boredom until they go to war.
Upon his arrival at the Marine base, Swoff is assigned to C Company. There he meets his friend Troy (Peter Sarsgaard), a member of the elite Marine unit, and Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx), who picks him and Troy for sniper duty. Then commences Operation Desert Shield and over they fly to Saudi Arabia. Itching for some action and increasingly becoming bored creatures in the desert, Swoff narrates their long wait while suggesting some techniques "for the marine to use in the avoidance of boredom and loneliness."
Basically the film's first part tackles the hell of a boot camp new recruits have to undergo. "Swoff" recounts how he was conceived, how screwed-up his life is, and how he got in the military. In many ways it feels rushed that sometimes you would like it to maybe linger in some scenes and hear more from him and the others. Some parts of the script also don't hold up well and may seem tedious to more cynical members of the audience.
The second part of the film is set in the desert. The problem here is the absence of genuine tension as the film avoids much of the battle and gore in lieu of a bunch of men finding whoever they are out in the scorching desert. But there's not enough depth, and the somewhat uneven pacing of Mendes in the movie's first part tantalizes the audience with only a bit of character background. There's little emotional connection, and there is virtually nothing for the audience to root for.
"Jarhead" treads very much the same area its predecessors had and without a clear stand on the theme it tackles, it appears relatively banal. That's not to say it's a bad film per se. It is a middling film with good acting and good cinematography. But coming from a director with a pretty impressive resume, somehow one can't help but ask for more.