War movies and me...we have a love/hate relationship. It's a tricky genre and we can argue about what counts as a war movie (Troy? LOTR? Star Wars?) until the cows come home. Until relatively recently, if given the choice of watching a war movie or staying home alone, I probably would have stayed home but then my brother got a job working at Blockbuster Video. Since he was allowed to borrow a certain number of items for free, we started to work our way through the genre. I developed a new appreciation of them, understanding for every piece of drivel a la Pearl Harbour or Saving Private Ryan (I found it better than Shakespeare in Love, but still overrated), there was good stuff like The Pianist and Full Metal Jacket. Into the *good* pile, we can add Jarhead.
Based on the memoir by Anthony Swofford, Jarhead recounts his training and service as a Marine in the first Gulf War. We follow Swoff (Jake Gyllenhaal) from his indoctrination in boot camp, his specialist sniper training, and his experience in the Gulf. If you're looking for an action movie with political commentary, you won't find it here. Instead this movie recounts Swoff's experience from his transformation from the reluctant marine who "got lost on his way to college", into the macho crack sniper, the bored, paranoid and frustrated tightly coiled soldier, and finally...what he is afterwards.
I can't really say why I liked this movie so much. It's a lot funnier than I expected it to be. We see a lot of the marines' pranks and humiliations. It's also a lot more homoerotic than expected - there are a lot of shots of partially dressed guys and they simulate sex with each other a few times. But it's also quite disturbing as we see the psychological toll of being constantly wired for fighting has on them - their growing disregard for others' feelings and when they get so stressed that they beg for the chance to kill someone/something or have someone kill them.
Although the actors/characters whom we don't follow as closely seem to anonymously blend into each other, the lead three are great. Dare I say Jake Gyllenhaal is better here than in Brokeback? It is a very impressive performance that needs to be seen to be believed. Peter Sarsgaard as the quiet-spoken, seemingly level-headed Troy, the spotter to Swoff's shooter...I havne't seen any of his other movies (even though we have them on dvd) but he was really good too. Jamie Foxx as the staff sargeant of the sniper troop was awesome! His changes from the total badass mother!#$@er drilling the recruits, to the logical teacher and instructor, embarrassment in a memorable scene, and the tactful leader who cares for the wellbeing of those under his command - I consider this performance superior to that of Ray (which if you think about it, that was more imitation than acting).
Just go out and watch this movie, ok?
7.5-8/10
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