Thread: Full Metal Jacket - LGK Movie Discussion #1

dunno where JD is....merge/delete this if necessary....let's rap!

FMJ is a straightforward work, told linearly, by one of cinema's masters, Stanley Kubrick.

The movie uncompromisingly tells the story of U.S. Marine trainees prior to deployment to Vietnam in 1968, and, also, while deployed.

Unforgettable in his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman is R. Lee Ermey.

The movie depicts how a more or less average American male is taught how to be a soldier. How to kill.

The disaster that is Leonard Lawrence, acted superbly by Vincent D'Onofrio, shows how bad things can get when they don't go the way they're supposed to.

Again, this is a straightforward movie. WYSIWYG. No cryptic symbolism or ambiguous designs. One either appreciates it for what it is or not.

I think it's a classic.

*IMDB link*

*Wikipedia link*

I was getting to it...not fast enough apparently. By the way, when I deleted the previous thread I forgot to write down the four others(Z&M,ID4,????) and the other suggestions up to that point. So if you suggested something or know the missing 2 can you please pm me. And please, just movies that were already suggested. I may not remember them from scratch but I will remember if they had been previously suggested, thanks.

An unbelievable 45-minute movie, followed by a much weaker, different movie which lost its two most compelling characters and was more or less a standard war movie. Plus, I don't think much of Matthew Modine as an actor, so the second half being focused on him really didn't come close to living up to the first half. I do however, think of the movie whenever I hear the "Mickey Mouse Club" song. That final scene really stayed with me.

Originally Posted by santiclaws

An unbelievable 45-minute movie, followed by a much weaker, different movie which lost its two most compelling characters and was more or less a standard war movie. Plus, I don't think much of Matthew Modine as an actor, so the second half being focused on him really didn't come close to living up to the first half. I do however, think of the movie whenever I hear the "Mickey Mouse Club" song. That final scene really stayed with me.

Looking at it as two separate movies is interesting.

Part 1 is character driven. Ermey and D'Onofrio are impossible to top.

Part 2 is more plot driven as, like you said, the two most riveting characters are dead.

I do think Part 2 is better than you give it credit for. It really doesn't pull any punches dealing with the American presence there (the hooker and thief who steals the camera), or, the treacherous situations involved when a squad is in the jungle.

I have yet to watch the film again for this discussion (maybe tonight), but I can tell you that my junior and senior year English teacher in high school was a Vietnam vet and he said that Full Metal Jacket was, by far, the most accurate depiction of what it was like to actually be there.

Originally Posted by adgy-san

I have yet to watch the film again for this discussion (maybe tonight), but I can tell you that my junior and senior year English teacher in high school was a Vietnam vet and he said that Full Metal Jacket was, by far, the most accurate depiction of what it was like to actually be there.

War is horrible. A friend's brother, who was in the Marines and in Vietnam, to this day never talks at all about what happened when he was stationed there.

I think Apocalypse Now is the greatest/most realistic war film ever made, the long version that includes the French plantation scenes, but FMJ is a close second.

And, no. I did not serve. Strictly a civilians POV.

My review is based on the first 45 minutes that I watched the other night....PT2 will be delivered shortly.

Seeing the movie again I realized how brilliant Kubrick was. The stark minimalism of that segment enhanced the dehumanizing process that is boot camp. I also had forgotten that apart from the drill Sgt there is not a whole lot of dialogue. One other aspect I had forgotten was how brilliant D'Onofrio was as Private Pyle. Brilliant performance...had he not pulled that role off the entire movie would have not been nearly the classic it is today.

Sidenote.... D'Onofrio has a character he does where he plays music and jokes.

George Geronimo Gerkie
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KglTxwYI1tI"]YouTube - ‪George "Geronimo" Gerkie 7-22-10 @ Joe's Pub 1‬‏[/nomedia]



Cant wait to watch the second half of the movie.

Originally Posted by Winsomemore

War is horrible. A friend's brother, who was in the Marines and in Vietnam, to this day never talks at all about what happened when he was stationed there.

I talked to a vet who said being in Nam was like playing a football game in which they continually moved the end zone back.

Originally Posted by Winsomemore

I do think Part 2 is better than you give it credit for. It really doesn't pull any punches dealing with the American presence there (the hooker and thief who steals the camera), or, the treacherous situations involved when a squad is in the jungle.

If I think about "not pulling any punches" than this is not the war movie that comes to mind. Platoon and and Casualties of War, if you are talking Vietnam, are grittier and scarier just off the top of my head. Same for Saving Private Ryan if we expand it to other war movies. I just about dove under the seat during the opening scene of the storing of Normandy.

That said, it's not that the war part sucks - I'd give it a solid 7.5. It's just that it suffers in comparison to the 9.5+ first part.