Page 1 of Jarhead

As this finally came out in England, i got to see it yesterday & i thought it was brilliant. But im not entirely sure why. I guess its just a combination of good acting & direction. Its a very nice to film to look at.
Theres never been (at least recenetly) a film about "the tedium of war" & this seems to catch it perfectly, its very good & dosent rely on action (theres barely any).
8/10.

What did other people think?? (sorry if theres already a Jarhead thread, but i couldnt find one).

You say pyscho like its a bad thing

I think I liked it - beautifully shot and acted, with a great score from Thomas Newman. I wasn`t too keen on the drill-sergeant scene near the start, as all it did was remind me of Full Metal Jacket, but the rest of it I thought was much better than expected.

As accurate as it may be though, It`s definitely not a great advert for the Marines.

Worth it just to see Dennis Haysbert saying "mother-f***er!" :D

_____________________________________________________

This item was edited on Sunday, 15th January 2006, 18:08

Quote:
Worth it just to see Dennis Haysbert saying "mother-f***er!"

Lol, glad I wasn`t the only one :D

I thought it was brilliant. Great performances and everything, I wasn`t a fan of American Beauty but Mendes is getting better with each film.

But to the "boredom of war" aspect, Buffalo Soldiers sort of dealt with that, even if it took a radically different approach in style, theme and delivery ;) (still a great film, but more like a comic book story compared to Jarhead).

From what I saw of the trailer, it doesn`t capture the tedium of war at all...

*EDIT* OK, I`ve seen the complete trailer now and bits of it look like they ring true.

-------------

News Editor and Reviewer
www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk

Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn...

And those who dance will spin and turn,
And those who wait will wait no more,
And those who talk will hear the words,
And those who see will fade and die,
And those who laugh will surely fall,
And those who know will always feel their backs against the thin wall...

This item was edited on Sunday, 15th January 2006, 19:46

Saw a preview of this a couple of months ago, and have watched it again today.

The trailer doesn`t necessarily represent the film well (it captures all of the more lighthearted moments), and I wouldn`t say that it necessarily represents the `tedium of war` either. It`s more about the effects of war, and how no matter what your experience has been, how it will live with you forever.

It`s brilliantly made, and at times it looks amazing. One thing I would say, is that it has quite a depressing ending, and that it couldn`t be released at a more relevant time.

it`s a grim portrait of the human condition, but no less impressive for it. at times it almost has the dream-like remoteness of `full metal jacket`, but it never quite moves away from being gimmicky, episodic and rhythmically atonal: there`s way too many pop needle-drops, and glib editorial smirks, so that when the film does broach into a cinematic representation of the sparse poetry of the book, it doesn`t quite have the resonance it should. still, mendes, steeling himself from art-porn indulgence for the most part, delivers some quietly devastating aesthetic corkers: the oil-fields at night sequence is eerie, haunted and unforgettable.

the performances are almost universally pitch-perfect, and whilst it's too clipped and stylised to really encapsulate the "boredom of war" that `das boot` did so memorably, it does capture something more disturbingly contemporary: an unnervingly honest glimpse into modern male aggression. the film is only really an indictment of the marines in so far as it's an indictment of the contemporary male, whom, after all, wanted so desperately to be sanctioned to kill long before he arrived at boot camp. regardless, although it is a pretty harrowing film to engage with in some respects, hopefully the audience will shiver in recognition at some raw, primal emotions that war movies have previously staunchly ignored.

--Mike

I was expecting not to like Jarhead but was hooked throughout and found the theme that, unlike the Vietnam War/era, the Gulf War has no identity - something summed up by the use of Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter and the references to Full Metal Jacket; it is best identified when Swoff says about a helicopter playing `Break On Through` by The Doors, "That`s Vietnam music... can`t we get our own music?".

I was surprised to find out that it was based on the memoires of a real soldier and that men that insane were allowed to serve in the US armed forces and were not shipped home; it`s no wonder that Abu Ghraib and other such atrocities occur when you have a group of service personnel who are dehumanised and trained to kill then left to their own devices with little to do.

As others have said, the aesthetics and cinematography were brilliant but Three Kings still holds the title as the best film made about the Gulf War.


My Top 20 Horror Movies ---- My DVD Collection
I don`t want to be a pie. I don`t like gravy.

Just watched it this weekend. Brilliant.

Shame the image was about a foot over the side masking on the left of the screen and that I could see a green LED light from some equipment behind the screen.

All the best,

Dr 42%er.


It`s not easy being different. It`s not easy being cool....but somehow I manage....

JARHEAD was excellent, great acting, great visuals

and reminded me a lot of THREE KINGS

another great film