Rent Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Harrowing and Disturbing - A Masterpiece War Film - Full Metal Jacket review by GI

This anti-war drama has all the more power for being set in the Vietnam War, a conflict that history has not drenched in honour or claimed as a fight against tyranny. It's a war where a major nation sacrificed its young men often needlessly in the quest for political dominance on the world stage. Having said that this ranks alongside such similar narratives as All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) and Stanley Kubrick's own Paths Of Glory (1957). Here Kubrick is concerned with the dehumanisation of young men so the State can turn them into all functioning killers by emphasising how cruelty inherent in humankind is bought forth as a terrible weapon of war. In that sense this is a harrowing war drama built around two distinctive segments. The first where young recruits are broken down and depersonalised at a Marine Corps barracks under the bullying and violence of a Drill Sergeant (R. Lee Ermey in a fantastic and highly memorable performance), the narrative focusing on two particular recruits Private 'Joker' (Matthew Modine), who just about maintains his inner moral code and Private 'Pyle' (Vincent D'Onofrio), a weak, retarded man who is turned into a psychopath by the treatment he experiences. The second segment is the combat section set in Vietnam where 'Joker' joins a squad of men and witnesses their casual and humorous attitude to death, killing and their complete loss of morality. Their emotions are enlivened only by revenge and the kudos obtained when they make a kill. There is no glory on display here even though the soldiers spout heroic rhetoric to a TV camera and each other. This is a shocking indictment of modern warfare waged by States for dubious reasons and consequently it's a film that stays in the memory. It is most definitely one of the most impactive war films ever made.

Say it again. - Full Metal Jacket review by Steve

Uneven Vietnam war picture divided by its two distinct locations and a style which fluctuates between black comedy and war-is-hell realism. The first half is better, as a diverse mob of malleable marines goes through the dehumanisation of basic training under a grotesquely incompetent officer. 

With the malign brainwashing of these teenage grunts, Stanley Kubrick is back in the mindscape of A Clockwork Orange (1971). These scenes are elevated by outstanding performances from R.Lee Ermey as the sadistic Sergeant, and Vincent D'Onofrio as a bullied recruit who should never have been there.

We then follow a wiseass reporter of propaganda into action, played by Matthew Modine. These fragmented episodes don't have as much impact, but the primary intent is to explain why so many mentally disturbed men came back from this futile war. And this is its main achievement.

The script is adapted from a novel by a combat veteran and has a dreamy, poetic quality. But it looks authentic... even though shot in the UK! It's a key 'Nam war picture, but my feeling is- at least during the re-evaluation of the '80s- it's preferable these were made by the survivors.