Movie #50 - Full Metal Jacket

Title: Full Metal Jacekt

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Release Year: 1987

Plot Summary: Born to Kill.

Thoughts: I am not a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick's work. Eyes Wide Shut sucks. The Shining isn't really all that scary. A Clockwork Orange has to be the most over-rated movie of all time. But then again, Dr. Strangelove... and Spartacus are both really good. To say that his work is sporadic is nothing short of the truth. This film is no different.

The first half of this movie, while the recruits are in basic training is quite accurate, from what I have been told bootcamp is like. There is wonderful character development and you really feel some sort of connection to each of the main characters (not in an empathetic or loving way, but a connection nonetheless).

Then the second half of the film rolls around and the recruits (well, those who survived boot camp, that is) are fighting in Vietnam. The movie takes a strange twist for the worse at this time. It seems that Kubrick shows the brutality of war simply for the sake of it. The film goes from dramatic and and emotional to bloody and boring. One could almost get the feeling that the scenes in Vietnam were simply thrown on there for a bunch of "bang bang shoot 'em up" sequences that have absolutely nothing to do with the first half of the film.

This movie is regarded as a classic, although I would be extremely hesitant to call it that. It would be a stretch to even say that I liked it very much simply because the two halves of the film do not coalesce in the least.

Rating (0-10): First Half: 9.0... Second Half: 2.5. Overall: 6.0

Recomendations: Worth seeing to say that you saw it. Worth buying? Of course not. Worth watching uninterrupted and unedited on premium cable? Yes,