Movie Review: Jarhead
9/15/90 - Troops arrive in Saudi desert.
1/17/91 - Operation Desert Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm
2/24/91 - Troops move on Kuwait and Iraq.
2/28/91 - President Bush orders a cease fire.
On the one hand, four and a half months seems like a remarkably short time for a war. On the other hand, for the guys on the ground it was a very long time. They remained in "a constant state of suspicious alertness." But there wasn't anything to do. They patrolled. They drilled. They did everything that you do in war except for fight battles. Four days after they moved in, the war was over. This movie is about one of these platoons.
Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a high school graduate who was "stupid enough to sign a contract." After a bad stay in boot camp, he is assigned to a scout/sniper platoon to which he turns out to be well suited. Then Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and the first Gulf War began. The movie shows us what it was like to be a grunt at the front waiting for the war to begin.
The cast as a whole is very good. Jake Gyllenhall is effective as Swofford. The other actors are distinct enough characters to emerge from being just a number. The direction avoids many of the flourishes that lesser directors use that detract from the story.
In many ways the movie is a post-modern war movie. In most war movies it is the guys on the ground who are the real heroes, but in this particular conflict they didn't have much to do. Following the usual template of a war movie (see Full Metal Jacket, Heartbreak Ridge), our hero would be thrust in to combat, prove himself under fire, and return home to his loved ones. As the audience expects to see that, so Swofford expects to live that. But it didn't happen that way.
1/17/91 - Operation Desert Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm
2/24/91 - Troops move on Kuwait and Iraq.
2/28/91 - President Bush orders a cease fire.
On the one hand, four and a half months seems like a remarkably short time for a war. On the other hand, for the guys on the ground it was a very long time. They remained in "a constant state of suspicious alertness." But there wasn't anything to do. They patrolled. They drilled. They did everything that you do in war except for fight battles. Four days after they moved in, the war was over. This movie is about one of these platoons.
Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a high school graduate who was "stupid enough to sign a contract." After a bad stay in boot camp, he is assigned to a scout/sniper platoon to which he turns out to be well suited. Then Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and the first Gulf War began. The movie shows us what it was like to be a grunt at the front waiting for the war to begin.
The cast as a whole is very good. Jake Gyllenhall is effective as Swofford. The other actors are distinct enough characters to emerge from being just a number. The direction avoids many of the flourishes that lesser directors use that detract from the story.
In many ways the movie is a post-modern war movie. In most war movies it is the guys on the ground who are the real heroes, but in this particular conflict they didn't have much to do. Following the usual template of a war movie (see Full Metal Jacket, Heartbreak Ridge), our hero would be thrust in to combat, prove himself under fire, and return home to his loved ones. As the audience expects to see that, so Swofford expects to live that. But it didn't happen that way.
posted by mypetrock at 9:16 AM
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