Full Metal Jacket (1987)

one of the best "war" films, yet it's not really about "war"
that's right full metal is about the war within. most people think kubrick did not focus on the human condition. are you kidding? we have two prime examples right here, the first being focused on gomer pile, the second half on joker. two very different struggles and all bein from within. this psychological struggle is in the shining, clockwork, 2001 and so on....
anyway, this film is classic and for good reason. it's awsome. there's a million quatable lines which tends to suggest that the script has something going for it. lee ermy shines like a diamond here. we witness moody scenes that often burrow into our psyche. pile's suicide typically burns it's way into there. the scene compsotion (thanks to kubricks still photography roots) is beautiful and often surreal, not too far from the shining.
everyone tends to favor the first half. being that full metal jacket almost feels like 2 seperate films, it's almost impossible to measure up to, or exceed the greatness of the first. what i realised is that you should not try to relate the two parts as they really are totally different. the films pace slows down with the second half as well. the actual battle scenes are far and few between, further alienating full metal jacket from being a typical war movie. it almost seems that the war is actually over. i always felt like the soldiers were just meandering around ruins to make sure no survivors remained. just a grim feeling runs through you during these episodes.
the music shouldnt be overlooked in any of kubricks work. we have a mix of popluar songs with atmospheric pieces filled with jarring ambiant tones, void of melody. highly effective sound track in its manic structure.
this dvd seems to have the fewest extras of all the sets releases, however we are treated to commentary by several of the films participants. if only ermy made more of an appearance on the track.
too many people piss n moan over screening ratios and nit pick every little detail. after seeing this movie so many times on a vhs tape i am elated i have it here in this presentation as was intended by the man himself who made it for us. and actually, we have even more than he intended in this case. no complaints form me. 5+ stars!

m-i-c--k-e-y. m-o-u-s-e.......

Blu-ray MUCH better than DVD version
My comments only concern the DVD versus Blu-ray issue.

I have an older version of the DVD (Stanley Kubrick Collection, white box) and the deluxe Blu-ray version. My experience has been that DVDs mastered in high definition look identical to the Blu-ray version (either on a Blu-Ray player or an upconvert DVD player). In this case, the Blu-ray version is MUCH better. The differece is much like the samples used in stores to show the difference betwee regular and high definition--you know, grainy on one side sharp on the other.

Also, the DVD version is full frame and the Blu-ray version is widescreen. What's odd, however, is that to make the widescreen version the top and bottom of the full screen version were chopped off--sort of the opposite of how widescreen movies are trimmed for full screen. Even so, I carefully watched and it didn't seem to matter. There were still a few grainy scenes (mostly combat scenes), but these were still much better than the DVD version.

Another big plus is that the Blu-ray version has special features (a commentary track,a behind the scenes featurette, and the trailer), but the DVD only has the trailer.

Unlike some Blu-ray versions, this one was definitely worth the upgrade.

Important War Film? I Think Not
I was talking to a co-worker one time and we were talking about movies that left huge impressions on us visually. See, we couldn't agree on what could be considered "great writing" for a movie, so the conversation shifted to visuals, which should have been an easier conversation to have. It wasn't. His idea of a visually stunning movie was "The Fast and the Furious," mainly because of how many explosions and cut-away editing tricks that were on display. He asked me what movies I felt were visually stimulating, and I gave him two names: Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick. Though he was familiar with Burton, Kubrick's films were a mystery to him. I don't know why. Even if you haven't seen a Kubrick film, many of how movies have iconic images in them.

I counted three in his Vietnam film "Full Metal Jacket." Aside from those three images though, "Full Metal Jacket" is easily the most visually stunning Vietnam film I've ever seen. It is haunting to look at, and the tone of the film from the facial expressions, to the color, to the shadows create images that seem to drill right into your eyes, leaving them in your head for the rest of your life. That said, while "Full Metal Jacket" will evoke emotions from you for it's powerful imagery, the movie is, sadly, a shallow shell. The problem, I believe, comes in the fact that the movie never really establishes an emotional connection with the audience, even when the visuals do establish something. In fact, if I were to be fair, I'd go as far as to say this was actually two movies merged into one.

The first half is the more story oriented of the two, but still confusing. At first we're under the impression that the protagonist of the movie is the cold-hearted Gunnery Sergeant Hartman ®. Lee Ermey), who takes up most of the first half hour of the film, barking orders and abusing the trainees. It's at this point though a kind soul, the overweight Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio), who starts the film as a shy boy, but then slowly goes mad thanks to the humiliating training. During the second half of the film though, the movie drops these two stories and follows Joker (Matthew Modine), a fellow Marian trainee during the first half of the film, who's now been promoted to sergeant and is fighting in Vietnam. At this point any narrative the film attempted to establish before is lost.

The rest of the film is about American soldiers killing innocent Vietnam families, side stories about how the soldiers horny needs aren't being met, and one of the strangest war scenes I've seen, where a film crew films a shoot out with the famous sixties song "Surfin Bird" playing in the background. The movie begins with a hopeless situation and go absolutely nowhere. It's an exercise in futility, where the only thing to see are people going mad. There are no characters to connect with, no larger story arc to follow, and no hidden meaning. Just a bunch of soldiers going crazy to the tune of odd songs and visual tricks. It looks stunning, but I found I just didn't care much at the end of the day.

Rating: ** stars