Jarhead is one of those movies that is going to create a lot of debate around the office here at Movies for Guys for weeks. We were lucky enough to get a couple of extra passes, so we had several guys at the screening. Half loved the movie because of how well done it was, the other half of us had a few problems with it.
Based on the book of the same name, Jarhead follows Marine Anthony Swofford, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, from boot camp to the Gulf War. "Swoff", as the guys call him, ends up as a member of an elite group of snipers. This is intended to be a realistic look inside the Gulf War from a grunt's eyes. What we learn is that unless you were a pilot or a tank driver, the main thing a soldier was fighting in the Gulf was boredom. And the movie captured this very realistically because for the second half of the movie, we were pretty bored as well.
Although it pretty much blatently rips off Full Metal Jacket, the first half of the movie is fun and entertaining. The second half is the problem. We found it to be very very slow. It teased the audience that something cool would be happening real soon now, but it never comes. Most war movies have a slow spot, even the great ones, but the one in Jarhead is exceptionally long. I was shifting in my seat wondering if it would ever end and was quite surprised at how early it was when the show ended, and I checked the time. The movie had a runtime of 115 minutes that felt more like 215.
We'll give credit where it's due though. The performances are exceptional. Jamie Foxx turns in another great performance as the Sargent. And Jake shows that he's come a long ways since Bubble Boy, although we could've done without seeing him shake his Gyllenhaal under a Santa hat. We can also appreciate that the whole point of the book, and consequently the movie, is to show that being a Marine in a war isn't just a big action filled adrenaline ride. The stress of waiting for something to happen while simultaneously wondering who your girlfriend or wife back home is screwing is captured very well.
Our official rating for Jarhead is 3 stars. Some of my fellow staff members really wanted to give it a 4 because of the quality of the movie and performances. My cohorts sometimes forget we're not typical critics, and we're not the Academy. I can appreciate a good performance, but we rate movies here purely on whether we were entertained or not. If you're going into this movie expecting a typical war movie with constant explosions, gunfire and the like, you're going to be disappointed. And again, I tell ya the second half is brutally slow. If you save it for DVD, at least it's less embarassing when you find yourself snoring on your own couch.
Billy Bob
Jarhead Reviewed 3/5 Stars
I can't WAIT to see this movie.....and NO, not because of the Santa hat scene
.....well.....not entirely.
he was naked in a lot of scenes and I'm sure the rumors about him being gay are T R U E !
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