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When it comes to great Vietnam war movies, I tend to think of Platoon, The Deer Hunter, even Apocalypse Now, a lot of others think of Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket', which is gritty and compelling, but has trouble recovering once its two best and most effective characters have left the building, literally going out with a bang. Those two characters are Hartman (Ermey) and the chubby recruit he calls Gomer Pyle (D'Onofrio). 'Full Metal Jacket' starts with the most realistic boot camp sequence ever filmed. Hartman is the drill sergeant, who is tough and brutal, crude and verbally abusive. He spouts constant streams of insults and profanity in very creative ways, committed to turning these green "maggots" into full-fledged killing machines. Is Marine training this rough? It used to be, according to one of my uncles, who had a drill instructor very much like Hartman, though perhaps not as over-the-top, which is how Ermey (in a brilliant, flawlessly convincing performance) chooses to play him. I would assume he needed a lozenge after every scene, for his raw throat, as he is always yelling at the top of his lungs. D'Onofrio is the primary target of his rage. What D'Onofrio endures is humiliating and cruel, we feel endlessly sorry for him, and wonder why he doesn't just leave. In reality, I doubt Pyle would have passed the physical to get into the Marines, or if he did, his apparent incompetence and lethargy would have gotten him kicked out after only a week or so, but Kubrick must keep him there until he discovers his hidden skill, which is his superb marksmanship. Also, Hartman seems to enjoy berating and degrading him, so he might not have wanted him to leave anyway. Is Hartman a villain? I have always thought of him as a bastard, but he tells the recruits at the start they will come to hate him because of his rigorous training method and authoritarian personality, but he vows to turn them into efficient soldiers. He seems to make good on that promise. D'Onofrio suffers a mental breakdown and puts his abilities with a gun to good use, Hartman most likely pushed him to his limits, or maybe he was crazy all along. Hartman makes clear the sexual parallels that exist for him within the military, having his recruits sleep with their rifles and give them girls' names. He also delivers a fantastic speech about how the Marines produced two notorious killers, Lee Harvey Oswald and Charles Whitmore. One this segment is over, we meet up with some of Hartman's guys after they have been deployed to Saigon, namely Joker (Modine) whom we follow through the rest of the movie, as American troops engage in urban combat against snipers, and trek through jungles and countryside, watching for the Viet Cong. 'Full Metal Jacket' contains no surprises, it looks good, but lacks the overall realism or urgency of the three aforementioned films. In their company, 'Full Metal Jacket' comes up short. Modine is solid, but frankly, none of the characters, outside of Pyle and Hartman, are really that interesting or well-developed. I consider that a significant flaw. War is portrayed as a savage, remorseless enterprise here, as it should be, but then again, almost every other modern war movie paints war in a similar light. email this review to a friend
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