Full Metal Jacket (Military Film)

As I searched for a military film to watch, I was hoping to find one that I thought would remind me of Black Hawk Down (2001), which is perhaps my favorite war film. I originally settled on watching Apocalypse Now (1979), but after finding Full Metal Jacket (1987) on Netflix, I decided that this was easier to watch.

            I overall enjoyed this film. The film starts off in Marine boot camp, where soldiers are training to be shipped off. This sequence takes up at least 1/3 of the movie, if not ½. This sequence is one of the most heralded parts of the film. R. Lee Ermey, who was a real drill instructor, plays this role in the film as well. He delivers one of the most convincing, terrifying, respect-earning drill sergeants I have ever seen. I felt like I was really at boot camp the whole time, and this film helped me to understand some of the horrors of war outside of the actual battles. Vincent D’Onofrio plays Pvt. Pyle and is the main subject to focus on in the first part of the movie as he constantly drags everyone else down with his lack of fitness for the war. The structure of this film is a bit weird, and I felt like I was watching two movies back-to-back that were only somewhat related. One could see the second half of the movie without seeing the first half and probably still understand most of it. This odd structure was one of the things I did not like about this film. The second half of the film does a great job showing the horrors of war on the battlefield, and I enjoyed most of it, even the extremely intense parts. The camera angles in this film were masterfully done by Kubrick. When one of the characters (“Hand Job”) is killed, the other soldiers circle around his body, and the camera does a sort of reverse arc shot and shows each soldier surrounding his body. Each gives a short phrase about the death that does a great job revealing their character traits. This camera angle ties this in well. Also, the opening shot of Parris Island was impressive. I noticed many pop culture references that I still hear today in this film. In all, I would recommend that you see this film for its cultural impact, and I would rate it an 8/10.