BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

shulthise Kept hearing about this movie, people said I should watch it. I can say I am fairly disappointed. The obvious comparison is to Platoon, which was a lot better at the time in every aspect, and years after still holds better against this pretentious movie.I felt the same disappointment watching The Thin Red Line and Dunkirk - both were overly praised but empty - no narrative, no tension, and almost no character to empathize with.

Osmosis Iron Vietnam war as depicted by the master itself: Stanley Kubrick. Funny moments, sad moments and everything in between. This movie shows the many aspects of war and it's effect on human condition. Many people seem to think it gets weaker after the boot camp and the second part isn't as good, I like the whole movie, the second half has at least the same amount of memorable scenes if not more!

audrablum This week I watched Full Metal Jacket (1987). Let me just start out by saying that I was not the biggest fan of this film and I am surprised that this is such an occult classic. I thought the storyline was kind of weird and directionless. I felt like I kept waiting for a climax that never came. I didn't care for the content of the film and I see why my ex was so obsessed with it. It seemed geared for someone like him -- not me. Being a military brat I get that this film is supposed to represent "how it really is" in the military, and I do think the film gave an accurate depiction in that regard. Who knows? Maybe that's why I didn't care to watch it. Most of the scenes I felt were drawn out for too long and Kubrick took advantage of the shoot up scenes to get a little extra gorey, which I also didn't care for. Some of the music seemed out of place -- and not in a good creative way, but in a weird I don't get it way. Traditional to Kubrick films the cinematography was an artistic manifestation of the internal turmoil of the scenes. The editing seemed to shift throughout the movie, which I also didn't care for stylistically. For most of the movie the editing was traditional cinematic, and about ¾ into the movie, the editing suddenly becomes "TV news style." Some people might be into that, but I thought it felt out of place, abrupt, and strange. Perhaps that was Kubrick's intent to make the viewer feel strange because he wanted us to feel that war is strange. I think that the film translated Kubrick's vision well. I believe that the point of the film is an anti-war message. I see a lot of undertones for this in the script. The film's plot seemed to be "real-life" war from the perspective a a journalist/soldier. And as for payoff? As I mentioned earlier about the editing, the pacing changed a few times in the film and was strange. There wasn't really a good payoff to this film in my opinion, but I think that's what Kubrick was going for.

shadow_blade-89459 "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) is a war drama that accurately displays the hardship of the military, in this case the Marine Corps, during the Vietnam War. The film is through the perspective of Private Joker, played by Matthew Modine, as he navigates basic training and the war. The film is very versatile in that there is obvious drama, but there are moments of comic relief mostly to those who were in the military. I feel the point of this film was to shed light on the actualities of the military during training and war time, which have been improved since Vietnam. According to some veterans I have spoken with in my years, the nail was hit smack on the head.The director, Stanley Kubrick, paced this film perfectly. Even though the pacing was unable to keep my teenage son intrigued, knowing what happens in basic training and having done my time in a war, the pacing couldn't have been better. When the story is being told from the service members point of view, the pacing all revolves around how that member absorbs their surroundings. The payoff is unfortunate, but it is the truth of war. The loss of characters you get attached to during the film is a direct depiction of any war where friends and family are lost, but the end is just as heart warming as it is sad. This is a great film that I would recommend to anyone, especially those interested in the military.