Jarhead

Reviewed by Jeff Jacoby
November 4, 2005

Studio: Universal Website: http://jarheadmovie.com MPAA: R Review Rating: 7 out of 10

Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) leaves his beautiful girlfriend behind and enlists in the Marine Corps just before the outset of the first Gulf War. He suffers the stereotypical fanatical drill instructor and a testosterone filled hazing by fellow recruits before his recruitment to the elite sniper squad led by Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx).

During his sniper training he has to experience the all too common accidental death of a fellow solider during a live-fire exercise. Instead of looking for the nearest exit from this supposedly traumatizing experience, he comes to the conclusion that he would love to see the pink haze a human body creates from a sniper rifle head shot.

Then the director and writer transport you to Saudi Arabia for another round of Marine Corps posturing speeches (read: honor, killing, country, etc etc). From a “guy flick” perspective, one might find this funny and generally entertaining.

The movie proceeds, in due haste, to convey the harsh environment the characters must contend with on a daily basis. They endure scorching heat, awful food, and the thought that their women back home are cheating on them. With this infidelity idea coupled with the boredom and typical military disciplinary actions against him, Swofford decides to vent his frustrations on a fellow solider. He loads his M-16 rifle and points it at the other solider while taking us through his cathartic moment, step by step. Albeit a dramatic moment, I was left puzzled by its credibility. The viewer is to believe that a solider can lose it because he thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him, the weather is bad, food is bad, he is disciplined for neglect of duty, and he is bored? I did not.

The movie is full of highly dramatic plot points but with the exact same lack of credibility. The explosion special effects are quite basic, in fact, in this era of “shock and awe”, the film producers would have been better off asking Al-Jazeera for some footage of the real Gulf War-Round 1. The parallel the writer makes to Vietnam is superficial at best. It is difficult to fathom the logic in comparing a multi-decade police action to an approximately 4-month battle force staging, 1-month aerial bombardment, and 4-day ground offensive; granted, I did not feel I was watching a Michael Moore one-sided propaganda film.

Overall, the production offers some entertainment with “guy flick” humor, shooting and explosions. From a dramatic standpoint, the movie is less effective and enjoyable.

If searching for an action film, this might be worth watching at a matinee ticket price, but only if nothing else is available. War movie fans will most likely be disappointed in this production.

I would not recommend this movie to fans of substantive dramas.