Jarhead (Widescreen Edition)

Average customer rating: 3.0

Great scenes, so-so movie.
A $1 rental
No reason for this movie
exceptionally bad
Pretty Good

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Jarhead (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal , Peter Sarsgaard , Scott MacDonald , Jamie Foxx , and Lo Ming
Director: Sam Mendes
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Product Group: DVD
Binding: DVD
ASIN: B000DZIGDU
2006-03-07

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Based on Anthony Swofford's excellent memoir about his experiences as a Marine Sniper in Gulf War I, Jarhead is a war movie in which the waiting is a far greater factor upon the characters than the war itself, and the build up to combat is more drama than what combat is depicted. To some viewers hoping for typical movie action, this will seem like a cruel joke. But it's not. It's just the story as it was written, and if you liked the book, you will probably like the movie. If you didn't, then the movie won't change your mind.

The movie follows the trajectory of Swofford (played with thoughtful intensity by Jake Gyllenhaal) from wayward Marine recruit (he joined because he "got lost on the way to college") to skilled Marine sniper, and on into the desert in preparation for the attack on Iraq. No-nonsense, Marine-for-life Staff Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx), the man who recruited Swofford and his spotter Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) into the sniper team, leads them in training, and in waiting where their lives are dominated by endless tension, pointless exercises in absurdity (like playing football in the scorching heat of the desert in their gas masks so it will look better for the media's TV cameras), more training, and constant anticipation of the moment to come when they'll finally get to kill. When the war does come, it moves too fast for Swofford's sniper team, and the one chance they get at a kill--to do the one thing they've trained so hard and waited so long for--eludes them, leaving them to wonder what was the point of all they had endured.

As directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), the movie remains very loyal to the language and vision of the book, but it doesn't entirely work as the film needs something more than a literal translation to bring out its full potential. Mendes's stark and, at times, apocalyptic visuals add a lot and strike the right tone: wide shots of inky-black oil raining down on the vast, empty desert from flaming oil wells contrasted with close-ups of crude-soaked faces struggling through the mire vividly bring to life the meaning of the tagline "welcome to the suck." But much of the second half of the movie will probably leave some viewers feeling disappointed in the cinematic experience, while others might appreciate its microcosmic depiction of modern chaos and aimlessness. Jarhead is one of those examples where the book is better than the movie, but not for lack of trying. --Dan Vancini

Description

Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx and Jake Gyllenhaal star in this critically acclaimed, brilliantly unconventional war story from Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes. <P> <I>Jarhead</I> (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows Swoff (Gyllenhaal) from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, where he sports a sniper rifle through Middle East deserts that provide no cover from the heat or Iraqi soldiers. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they don't fully grasp.

Customer Reviews:

Great scenes, so-so movie........2007-06-04

What can you say about a movie that has so many fine ingredients? This is all the hallmarks of a great movie - great director, terrific acting, epic cinematography, relevant message. And yet without a real narrative to hang on, this is a movie about the atmosphere - in particular, the cumulative effect of atmosphere. It will depend on the viewer if that atmosphere is enough to sustain interest.
Jake Gyllenhaal is terrifically convincing as the naïve young `average young man' who joins up instead of going to college. His journey is the lynchpin of the movie, and he makes it work. He starts off in the usual drill sergeant shouting at recruits type scenes, and finally gets to the Gulf. There, the movie is about the waiting. The boredom and frustration of being built up to act, and then sit on their heels unable to act.. Problem is, in convincingly conveying the boredom and frustration of the men, the viewer is equally bored and frustrated. The war starts, and yet the frustration is never truly released for the group of marines, and in the final scenes the end is somewhat bleak to say the least. The cream of the most macho soldiers are made to look impotent.
This is a timely look at what some of the pressures must have been like - there are probably also parallels to be made with today's conflict, even though the situation is quite different. As the lead says towards the end - Every war is different - and every war is the same.
So is this enough to spend your two hours on the couch..? The answer is probably only just - there was more that could have been made of these memoirs. But accepting its flaws, its probably still interesting enough to get through - just not if you are an action junkie!

A $1 rental.......2007-05-22

I wish I had watched it before I bought it. In that it is fairly realistic so I'm told by guys who were there it dull and boring and mostly pointless. If you are looking for action go some where else.

No reason for this movie.......2007-05-16

While not a Marine veteran, I am a Gulf War veteran. And I found very little redeeming about this movie. There are only two elements of this film that were worth bringing to an international audience.

1) The "Dear John" letter board. For whatever reason, especially confusing given the shortness of this war, there seemed to be a disproportionate number of breakups and divorces among Desert Storm participants. Perhaps it just seemed that way from the inside, or because suddenly women were everywhere in a combat-zone for the first-time making it easier for soldiers to cheat (not a knock against female soldiers) or because without a draft there were so many eligible young men still left back in the states to cause trouble there. Whatever the reason, even this important statement in Jarhead was as poorly underdone as a Herfy goat burger (inside joke).

2) The other important element shown in this film was the frustration of waiting. Sitting in the desert and keyed up for 5 months with no proper outlet or release. Again, they missed their cue there. I do not believe for a second that a Marine NCO would allow his recon unit on the edge of a battlefield to behave in such an undisciplined and coarse manner. Especially in front of civilians and worse, reporters. This stinks a little bit to much of the early stages of Heartbreak Ridge before the Gunny shows up.

The main character/author is nothing short of a crybaby wimp. His is not a personality that can be suppressed throughout Boot Camp, AIT, and TIS. He should have never been in a warzone because he should never have been allowed to be a Marine. The closest this guy should have gotten to the military is by working for the Air Force MWR (another inside joke).

I see this movie as an insult to the Corps and the military at large. Its timing was very suspect. Its time of filming and release was during the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom, a war that is depicted by liberal Hollywood and the media as being very unpopular. Touted and sold as a patriotic celebration of our military, its really just another example of how the left "supports our troops" but cutting their feet out from under them.

exceptionally bad.......2007-05-09

Only Hollyweird could find a reason to award this steaming pile. Unrealistic cinematography. No redeeming entertainment value.

Pretty Good.......2007-04-30

This is a pretty good movie, it makes me not want to join the army, espcially the way they were treaed. it's a pretty good movie. thats all i can say.

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