Full Metal Jacket

It's good to be back. It's been a while again, but better later then ever.
This time is another war picture with a fantastic director behind the cameras, which i previously idolized already - Stanley Kubrick.
Full Metal Jacket is an ok movie, is a good movie, is an extraordinary movie. It has all the movie symptons of Kubrick films; it's different, it's based on a novel adapted by Kubrick himself, great production design with huge war scenarios build up all in England, and it has the lunatic mind of Kubrick, the perfectionism of the dialogues, the movement of the cameras, the acting, the scenarios. It's a masterpiece.

In the beginning of Full Metal Jacket, we see the faces of several young men, having their heads shaved. These young men are new recruits of the US army, these recruits are going to be trained by Sergeant Hartman portrayed by the actor R. Lee Ermey and i must say, this guy is the best of the movie, his character speaks endless obscenities, destroys the recruits identity and makes them a fighting machine with no will of their own.
Within these recruits is the private Joker which is portrayed by the actor Matthew Modine which for me is his best work so far. Never heard of him again after this movie. Anyway private Joker is the narrator of the movie, and after gis trainning he is shipped out to Vietnam. After his arrival at the Vietnam he's now a sergeant, working as a reporter for Stars and Stripes to help keep the moral of the troops high. Joker and a photographer go with the troops on the front line to advertize an hipocratic propaganda to the troops, but soon in the destroyed town of Hue hell is about to start.

This movie was released a year after the movie Platoon which was already reviewed in the past. Oliver Stone movie has a different storytelling and perspective of the Vietnam war. As for Stone, his movie is more linear, direct and simple, the war is just a subject for the story.

In Kubrick's movie war is the story, it has a non-linear narrative, has it is dived in two parts, the trainning of the soldiers, and the second part is in Vietnam war itself. Kubrick's plays all his characters masterfully, instead of showing the day-today business of the soldiers, Kubrick goes directly to the point of an anti militarisic fundamentalist. His message in the movie is that, in every war the morale is an important tool for the soldiers, without it every battle is lost. In Full Metal Jacket that is evidentely shown, in the sequences of the sniper killing Us troops in slow motion showing the cruelty of war in a magic sequence. Kubrick is saying exactly that, there is nothing remotly heroic about the way soldiers are sent to their certain death.

It's not the best of Kubrick but it has all the ingredients of a great Kubrick movie. It's fresh, different war perspective, different has Kubrick got us used to that and its a very good directing, acting and the production designs are achieved with greatness here. It's a must see pearl of the 80's and a very good one.

I promise next week i will review another good movie. And don't worry, next time it will be not war, action with aliens, or any kind of horror. Did you ever heard of "A Fish Called Wanda"?.

See you soon

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Trailer