This a review of Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket'.
Often hailed as the most realistic depiction of war, Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Full Metal Jacket’ shows the dehumanisation of young men into trained killers in The Royal Marine Corps, and their time in Vietnam. The film follows ‘Pvt. Joker’ (Matthew Modine) a normal guy who is pushed through the gruelling basic royal marine training and then into Vietnam. 
On the surface, the film appears to be a gritty, gory war flick. Although it is both gritty and gory in places, there are so many more factors in this film’s equation that makes it a movie which will enrapture the viewer from beginning to end. One of these winning factors is the unique Kubrickian way it was shot. Camera angles are a definitive part of this movie with many being fixed on canted angles and portions of it shot in documentary style gives a massive amount of realism and make you totally immerse yourself into war-torn Vietnam. The film begins with the recruit’s hair being shaven with the camera panning from one man to another. This short scene is a perfect set up for the film as it introduces the main characters, instantly giving you a glimpse of the recruit’s personality through haircuts and facial expression. You see the character’s old hair styles, (which all uniquely said something about the owner’s personality) be replaced by a shaven head making them all equal.
‘Full Metal Jacket’ is crammed full of classic war movie characters and events, from the over audacious marine shouting ‘GET SOME!’ to Vietnamese villagers while shooting at them from a helicopter, to Sgt. Hartman (Lee Ermy), the intimidating, harsh drill instructor who is oozing one liners from his first to last moment on screen.. Each scene has its own uniqueness and is memorable for different reasons, whether it is Private Joker’s awful attempt at intimidating the Vietnamese thief or the sickening sight of 20 soldiers lying dead, covered in lime.
The film itself is set up almost as two smaller movies each having its own plot. The first being the marine’s training which climaxes with a murder and a suicide in an awesome scene which will both terrify and grip you. The second part of the film captures the marine’s work in Vietnam which ends with a haunting piece of film in which a group of marines search for and eventually shoot a female soldier, we know nothing of her or her circumstance and the emotional torment we see her killers go through in that final scene truly epitomises the chaos and brutality of war. This film is of course not flawless with some scenes being dragged on longer than is needed and some of the marines are overly stereotyped into clichés. Funny, gory, beautiful, bloody, ‘Full Metal Jacket’ ticks a tremendously large amount of film watching boxes. Watch it to view the dehumanisation of marines and the effect on their personality or just to enjoy the spectacle of a classic, Kubrick war film.
On the surface, the film appears to be a gritty, gory war flick. Although it is both gritty and gory in places, there are so many more factors in this film’s equation that makes it a movie which will enrapture the viewer from beginning to end. One of these winning factors is the unique Kubrickian way it was shot. Camera angles are a definitive part of this movie with many being fixed on canted angles and portions of it shot in documentary style gives a massive amount of realism and make you totally immerse yourself into war-torn Vietnam. The film begins with the recruit’s hair being shaven with the camera panning from one man to another. This short scene is a perfect set up for the film as it introduces the main characters, instantly giving you a glimpse of the recruit’s personality through haircuts and facial expression. You see the character’s old hair styles, (which all uniquely said something about the owner’s personality) be replaced by a shaven head making them all equal.
‘Full Metal Jacket’ is crammed full of classic war movie characters and events, from the over audacious marine shouting ‘GET SOME!’ to Vietnamese villagers while shooting at them from a helicopter, to Sgt. Hartman (Lee Ermy), the intimidating, harsh drill instructor who is oozing one liners from his first to last moment on screen.. Each scene has its own uniqueness and is memorable for different reasons, whether it is Private Joker’s awful attempt at intimidating the Vietnamese thief or the sickening sight of 20 soldiers lying dead, covered in lime.
The film itself is set up almost as two smaller movies each having its own plot. The first being the marine’s training which climaxes with a murder and a suicide in an awesome scene which will both terrify and grip you. The second part of the film captures the marine’s work in Vietnam which ends with a haunting piece of film in which a group of marines search for and eventually shoot a female soldier, we know nothing of her or her circumstance and the emotional torment we see her killers go through in that final scene truly epitomises the chaos and brutality of war. This film is of course not flawless with some scenes being dragged on longer than is needed and some of the marines are overly stereotyped into clichés. Funny, gory, beautiful, bloody, ‘Full Metal Jacket’ ticks a tremendously large amount of film watching boxes. Watch it to view the dehumanisation of marines and the effect on their personality or just to enjoy the spectacle of a classic, Kubrick war film.
