Full Metal Jacket (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
7 long years after giving us The Shining, Stanley Kubrick directs his 'Full Metal Jacket', a searing study on the brutalities, futilities & dehumanizing effects of war; reveling in the hostile details of both boot camp & battle -- not unlike other 'like' provocative war films such as Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now or Oliver Stone's Platoon. Following the source novel, The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, Kubrick makes alterations to suit his visual & thematic sensibilities to give us is a film split into 2 distinctive acts. The 1st part functions as an extended 45 minute prologue taking place in America {though, filmed in England}, while the remaining hour transports us {and some of the characters we've met} to the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, 1968.
The film opens with the arrival of a gung-ho group of Marine trainees at Parris Island, South Carolina. They include 3 principals: Pvt. James "Joker" Davis (Matthew Modine), a smart-ass who gets his nickname by impersonating John Wayne; Pvt. Robert "Cowboy" Evans (Arliss Howard), who is told that only "steers & queers" come from his home state of Texas; & Pvt. Leonard Lawrence (Vince D'Onofrio), a dim-witted, overweight recruit who gets the derisive nickname of "Gomer Pyle" from sadistic gunnery drill sergeant, Hartman (R. Lee Ermey, former real-life Marine DI). Hartman's style is uncompromisingly savage; seeing it as his job to transform these undisciplined boys into cold, lethal killers {one of the dominant themes of the film}. He is utterly ruthless, using profanity-laden tirades & grueling abuse to achieve his methods. Gomer Pyle can endure only so much bullying & humiliation from Hartman & the others and, the results are tragic.
A bloody bathroom tableau cuts quickly to the dingy streets of Vietnam, where Act Two picks up some months later. "Joker" is now a war journalist there and, along with photographer Rafterman (Kevyn Major Howard), he is sent to Phu Bai to rendezvous with the Lusthog Squad, of which "Cowboy" is a member. Joker & Rafterman are with this squad during the gory Battle of Hue. Shortly thereafter, their squad leader is killed by a trap & Cowboy is forced to take charge. They come under sniper fire & confused dissention about how to handle the casualties result in a complete breakdown of order. The squad's machine gunner "Animal Mother" (Adam Baldwin) acts impulsively and, though he locates the sniper, the ensuing result is disaster for all.
'FMJ' is an excellent anti-war motion picture, even if I do feel that there is a slight imbalance to both Acts. The 1st Act is the more compelling & powerful segment; featuring a tour de force performance by R. Lee Ermey and an effectively disturbing introspective portrayal by Vincent D'Onofrio. Their stories conclude before the 2nd Act begins, and so the film suffers a bit as a result as no one else in the cast is as interesting. The 2nd Act is very well done - offering a gut-wrenching portrait of the chaos of war - but there's an anti-climactic feel to it. The film crackled with energy when Ermey was around and, you really feel that missing element.
Marine drill instructor R. Lee Ermey was hired by Kubrick to serve as a technical advisor, but Ermey was so incredible during his audition that Kubrick not only hired him to play Hartman, but also allowed him to improvise much of his vitriolic dialogue. He's the perfect embodiment of an appalling drill sgt. How Ermey, or even Vincent D'Onofrio, failed to receive a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, is beyond me. As Joker, Matthew Modine is more of a pragmatic observer than a man of action, so he ably blends into the background to give other character actors moments to shine. But to that, it dwarfs the power of the big climactic moment because we haven't connected with him much beforehand; the intended gut-punch just isn't there.
Kubrick knows how to juggle tone and what to do with his camera. As the 2nd Act begins, he shifts from one terrifying moment to a relatively humorous transition; as Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" blares out the speakers and we see a prostitute played by model/actress, Soo Soo, sashay across the hectic city street crowing at Joker: "Me so horny. Me love you long time". There is an undercurrent of humor in the film to cut the tension with a knife; especially in the 1st Act's training exercises. Kubrick deftly balances those sometimes-uneasy comedic stretches with the inherent bleakness of the material. Kubrick's acute attention to detail is also apparent; employing cinematographer Douglas Milsome to emphasize the claustrophobia of South Carolina's barracks AND the unreal perils of Vietnam's bombed-out Phu Bai. I also admired Abigail Mead's {Kubrick's daughter, Vivian} discordant music which unsettles you further.
'FMJ' isn't overtly political, as Kubrick did not want to recapitulate the likes of Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter & Platoon. He believed that it was more than enough to show the dehumanizing impact of military training & combat ... and that people would understand. Although the 1st 45 min. are as astonishing as anything Kubrick had previously made {like his Paths of Glory, 1957}, the 2nd 1/2 of the film simply falls short of greatness. On the whole, that knocks the film a down a notch. Still, despite the 2nd half being merely good - instead of great - it's still a shatteringly impressive piece of art.
The film opens with the arrival of a gung-ho group of Marine trainees at Parris Island, South Carolina. They include 3 principals: Pvt. James "Joker" Davis (Matthew Modine), a smart-ass who gets his nickname by impersonating John Wayne; Pvt. Robert "Cowboy" Evans (Arliss Howard), who is told that only "steers & queers" come from his home state of Texas; & Pvt. Leonard Lawrence (Vince D'Onofrio), a dim-witted, overweight recruit who gets the derisive nickname of "Gomer Pyle" from sadistic gunnery drill sergeant, Hartman (R. Lee Ermey, former real-life Marine DI). Hartman's style is uncompromisingly savage; seeing it as his job to transform these undisciplined boys into cold, lethal killers {one of the dominant themes of the film}. He is utterly ruthless, using profanity-laden tirades & grueling abuse to achieve his methods. Gomer Pyle can endure only so much bullying & humiliation from Hartman & the others and, the results are tragic.
A bloody bathroom tableau cuts quickly to the dingy streets of Vietnam, where Act Two picks up some months later. "Joker" is now a war journalist there and, along with photographer Rafterman (Kevyn Major Howard), he is sent to Phu Bai to rendezvous with the Lusthog Squad, of which "Cowboy" is a member. Joker & Rafterman are with this squad during the gory Battle of Hue. Shortly thereafter, their squad leader is killed by a trap & Cowboy is forced to take charge. They come under sniper fire & confused dissention about how to handle the casualties result in a complete breakdown of order. The squad's machine gunner "Animal Mother" (Adam Baldwin) acts impulsively and, though he locates the sniper, the ensuing result is disaster for all.
'FMJ' is an excellent anti-war motion picture, even if I do feel that there is a slight imbalance to both Acts. The 1st Act is the more compelling & powerful segment; featuring a tour de force performance by R. Lee Ermey and an effectively disturbing introspective portrayal by Vincent D'Onofrio. Their stories conclude before the 2nd Act begins, and so the film suffers a bit as a result as no one else in the cast is as interesting. The 2nd Act is very well done - offering a gut-wrenching portrait of the chaos of war - but there's an anti-climactic feel to it. The film crackled with energy when Ermey was around and, you really feel that missing element.
Marine drill instructor R. Lee Ermey was hired by Kubrick to serve as a technical advisor, but Ermey was so incredible during his audition that Kubrick not only hired him to play Hartman, but also allowed him to improvise much of his vitriolic dialogue. He's the perfect embodiment of an appalling drill sgt. How Ermey, or even Vincent D'Onofrio, failed to receive a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, is beyond me. As Joker, Matthew Modine is more of a pragmatic observer than a man of action, so he ably blends into the background to give other character actors moments to shine. But to that, it dwarfs the power of the big climactic moment because we haven't connected with him much beforehand; the intended gut-punch just isn't there.
Kubrick knows how to juggle tone and what to do with his camera. As the 2nd Act begins, he shifts from one terrifying moment to a relatively humorous transition; as Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" blares out the speakers and we see a prostitute played by model/actress, Soo Soo, sashay across the hectic city street crowing at Joker: "Me so horny. Me love you long time". There is an undercurrent of humor in the film to cut the tension with a knife; especially in the 1st Act's training exercises. Kubrick deftly balances those sometimes-uneasy comedic stretches with the inherent bleakness of the material. Kubrick's acute attention to detail is also apparent; employing cinematographer Douglas Milsome to emphasize the claustrophobia of South Carolina's barracks AND the unreal perils of Vietnam's bombed-out Phu Bai. I also admired Abigail Mead's {Kubrick's daughter, Vivian} discordant music which unsettles you further.
'FMJ' isn't overtly political, as Kubrick did not want to recapitulate the likes of Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter & Platoon. He believed that it was more than enough to show the dehumanizing impact of military training & combat ... and that people would understand. Although the 1st 45 min. are as astonishing as anything Kubrick had previously made {like his Paths of Glory, 1957}, the 2nd 1/2 of the film simply falls short of greatness. On the whole, that knocks the film a down a notch. Still, despite the 2nd half being merely good - instead of great - it's still a shatteringly impressive piece of art.