Full Metal Jacket

Disclaimer:

The movie I’m reviewing this week is rated: R

Swearing, violence, sexual themes, and gore will be included in this review.

Stanley Kubrick. One of the greatest American filmmakers of time gone by, and this one I would consider to be a great addition to his prolific film history. He’s given us timeless classic after timeless classic and one thing an average viewer may note is how diverse they are in genre. He’s made a sci-fi epic, a horror film, a social deconstruction, a crime/romance drama, a provocative mystery, an off-the-wall comedy, and this film is his dramatic and action-packed take on the Vietnam War. To be honest, I’ve only ever seen this movie once. Not to say that I don’t remember it very well, there are scenes that definitely stick out to me, but the main thing I remember from it is its consistent brutal tone. In every scene you feel the absolute monster that war is from the beginning to the bitter end, and you never really know what’s coming your way either. From the training involved in getting soldiers out into the field to the actual work they do on the front-lines, there’s never a peaceful moment. You could also say that this stems from the chosen setting of the Vietnam War as well considering it’s one of the wars that Americans still question to this day if it was entirely necessary to be involved in it. That’s basically the thesis for this film: all this misery, and for what?

Even now we ask ourselves similar questions about battles our government is fighting on our behalf overseas at this very moment and I think this movie is a great encapsulation of that concept. You could even argue that the fact of sitting down in front of a screen watching it all happen while doing nothing also plays into the idea this movie was going for. Outside of the overall message, the movie also gives us a realistic glimpse of what it was like to be a soldier at the time by showing depictions of relationships between the men involved, some of the grittiest and most in-your-face performances ever given, and the ever looming threat of the enemy staying with you throughout the whole experience. At the end of the day though, are they really your enemy or just your country’s enemy? Keep that in mind as we look at this movie today in as much detail as I can manage. Believe me I’ll do whatever I can to break it down because one thing you can count on with every Kubrick film is layered storytelling in the staging, acting, sets, camera angles, and effects. In each of these reviews I try my hardest to address as many aspects a film presents as I possibly can, but there are always things that I miss (and I’m sure there will be with this one) so feel free to let me know in the comments and we can chat about them there! Without further ado, it looks like we’re getting shipped out.

Let’s see why I’d never survive in the military with Full Metal Jacket!

As we open the film we get a brief montage of all the latest Marine Corps recruits getting their heads shaved to the tune of ‘Hello Vietnam’ by Johnny Wright. Right from the get-go it seems the filmmakers are trying to convey that a part of these men’s humanity is being lost in joining the Marine Corps. None of them seem particularly pleased to have their luscious locks removed as their sense of individuality is taken away and Johnny Wright’s lyrics only cause the audience to ask the question if any of this is worth it. The last thing I really like about this not even minute-and-a-half long scene is how some of the faces we see having their hair cut off we won’t even get to know as the movie progresses. Sure a few of them will become major players, but most of them we won’t see again, and I think the point with this detail was to comment on the United States’ intention to use these people as war fodder. We won’t know most of these people by the end because they’ll probably be dead and the country they’re fighting for sees their lives as inconsequential to their flimsy cause.

Who’s the face of that cause? No, not Uncle Sam. No, not LBJ. It’s Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (played by R. Lee Ermey) in a role you will likely never forget for the rest of your life.

*I am hard, you will not like me, but the more you hate me the more you will learn!*

Before I go too far I’d like to address how in this film the actor is credited as Lee Ermey yet as his career continued he began being credited as R. Lee Ermey, so in case anyone was wondering why I chose to credit him in that fashion now you know why.

Despite only being present in the first third of the film, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman leaves a long lasting impression on anyone who sees this film because he’s hard boiled, stern, loudmouthed, and constantly in-your-face. Part of what made this performance so convincing is that actor R. Lee Ermey was an actual Drill Instructor in the Marine Corps himself and served as a rifleman and repair shop mechanic in Vietnam, so you could say this was less of a performance and more of a normal day at the office for him. He also sets the tone right from the beginning as he says to his newest batch of cadets that they are the lowest form of life on the planet.

*You are not even human fucking beings! You are nothing but unorganized grab-asstic pieces of amphibian* ***SHIT***!
Okay, point made.

This relentless attitude continues as we’re slowly introduced to our protagonist Private J.T. “Joker” Davis (played by Matthew Modine), his eventual buddy Private “Cowboy” Evans (played by Arliss Howard), and human doormat Private Leonard “Gomer Pyle” Lawrence (played by Vincent D’Onofrio). Hartman doesn’t seem to be a fan of Leonard.

*I don’t like the name “Lawrence”, only faggots and sailors are called “Lawrence”!*
Well I think it sounds like a first draft superhero alter-ego name.
Unfortunately Leonard will be *far* from a superhero by the end of this story.

Hartman gives each of our notable characters a motivational speech.

*You will not laugh! You will not cry! You will learn by the numbers! I will teach you!*
Yeah, this is the *entire* first act everyone.

Essentially it’s just constant screaming and tension facilitated by Hartman, but you can’t say that wasn’t what the filmmakers were going for. Pretty much every scene in this movie involves someone suffering which only drives home how brutal war is and this first act centered around Marine Corps boot camp lasts a whole 45 minutes. Not only does it add to the carnival of human horrors that war itself ends up amounting to in the end, but you really feel like you’re with each of these cadets throughout the whole process. From everything to marching practice, PT, rifle care, proper grooming, and lots and lots of discipline, boot camp sure as hell ain’t easy. That’s not to say that nothing outside of tone building is done in the first act either. We do also get character moments that add to the overall message of the movie as well as make us relate more to these people. Mostly the cadets though, because I don’t think there’s any relating to Hartman from my purely civilian perspective.

Naturally the most development revolves around our protagonist, Joker. We see how he wants to be a Marine to serve his country and probably kill some people, but it’s likely he’s also putting up a tough front to compensate for some kind of deep-rooted insecurity. This will become more apparent once we see him in the field later, but it’s a bit more subtle for now. He also has a significant amount of bravery, enough to stand up to Hartman on a couple of occasions, and uses his sense of humor to cope with his reality which is what earns him the nickname ‘Joker’.

[John Wayne impression]
*Is that you, John Wayne? Is this me?*

Unfortunately we don’t get a whole lot of time dedicated to Cowboy in the first act. We see both him and Joker interact a couple times showing that they have a closer connection than most other privates in the squad, but that’s about it as far as their relationship goes in these first 45 minutes. That to me is a bit of an issue, but I will say Matthew Modine and Arliss Howard’s chemistry later helps make up for it. Some things we learn about him is that he’s from Texas, hence the nickname ‘Cowboy’, and while he can be authoritative he’s also a pretty nervous guy. Especially in Hartman’s presence. Can you blame him, though?

Last we have Pyle. Hartman’s favorite punching bag.

I’m not sure what Pyle’s major malfunction is, but he’s the screw-up of the squad. Quite a bit of these first 45 minutes just involves Leonard making mistakes and Hartman screaming at him because of it. I’m assuming that’s why Hartman gave him the nickname ‘Pyle’ because to him he’s a pile of shit. (Note: I wrote that sentence before learning that ‘Gomer Pyle, USMC’ was an actual sitcom in the 60s, however I’m not sure how to factor that into Hartman’s name logic) Also, I probably shouldn’t be amused by this as much as I am, but much of the humor in the first act comes out of the ridiculous insults Hartman dishes out to Pyle.

[HARTMAN] *You climb obstacles like old people fuck, do you know that Private Pyle?!*
Me: [snicker]

[HARTMAN] *Your ass looks like about 150 pounds of chewed bubblegum, Pyle, you know that?!*
He has a glandular problem!

Since it seems Private Pyle can’t tell left from right, hold his rifle correctly, or get through the obstacle course, Hartman assigns Joker to be Pyle’s tutor. This is also where more of Joker’s humanity comes out as we see him gently take Pyle under his wing and do his best to show him how things are done. He’s definitely a better teacher for Pyle than Hartman, but that’s a low bar.

*Atta boy.*
That’s **already** an improvement.

Quick note as well, we can see in some of these scenes Cowboy being subtly placed close to Joker implying they have a friendly relationship we’re not seeing. Anyway, all seems to be going well with Pyle until he’s eventually caught during inspection with an unlocked footlocker and attempting to hide a jelly doughnut. In case you’re curious, this is also where the “What?!” soundbite meme comes from.

Hartman gets so pissed he decides that whenever Pyle fucks up, he’ll punish everyone else instead of him.

This is intended to help build comaraderie and esprit de corps between the cadets for the sake of whipping Pyle into shape, but it ends up just getting Pyle in deep shit with everyone. Since he still can’t do anything right (heck, even he admits it) -

- everyone ends up hating him. Even Joker is having a bit of a hard time keeping it together around him. He’s clearly trying not to be angry with Pyle, but constant punishments due to Pyle’s mistakes is making it difficult for him. Soon the entire squad ends up cornering Pyle after lights out and each cadet takes a whack at him with towel maces for their trouble. Even Joker. He hesitates, but in the end he does it.

This’ll come back around towards the end of the film in an interesting way, but for now it does make you question how much you like Joker. We also see after this moment that Pyle starts to develop this dead-eyed stare.

One thing you may also notice is that Stanley Kubrick has a similar way of directing and shooting crazy people.

I don’t know why, I guess it’s his calling card or something. Pyle also starts to talk to his rifle for creepy reasons.

*It’s been swabbed and brushed. Everything…is clean.*

*Oh, boy. He's cracked. He's gone nuts.*

Don’t worry, this is all building up to something, I promise. All this misery wouldn’t be worth it if it didn’t have a meaningful payoff and we’ll get to it in due time. In the meantime, Pyle starts to become a very skilled shooter which seems to be the only thing he’s particularly good at. When graduation day comes, Cowboy is chosen to be an infantryman along with Pyle (surprisingly), while Joker decides to become a military journalist. This leads back to the idea of Joker having his own inner conflict between wanting to be a proper Marine killing machine and a peace loving man which the movie will explore later. On the newly formed Marines’ last day before enlistment, Joker is assigned to firewatch that night only to walk into the lavatory and see this.

Like I said: payoff. So…apparently Pyle loaded up his magazine with live rounds.

Joker tries to calm him down to no avail when suddenly Pyle bursts out screaming which gets the attention of everyone in the base. Hartman bursts in pissed as hell and Joker warns him about Pyle being armed. Hartman tries to get the weapon from Pyle using his Hartman charm, but instead this happens.

With Joker still there, he fears for his life and tries to convince Pyle not to kill him. Pyle obliges, but instead shoots his own brains out.

If you’re like me, you probably have a lot of thoughts after this scene (Forewarning as well, I’m going to be talking about this scene for the next several paragraphs). You may also realize why I didn’t talk a whole lot about my thoughts on the previous scenes for the past however long, and that’s because I knew there was going to be a long discussion about this one. Essentially everything in the first act has been building up to this moment right here, and there’s a lot you can infer from it. Here are my thoughts.

Of course the surface level reading of this scene would imply that Pyle simply went crazy after he couldn’t hack it anymore in boot camp, but I feel like there’s more to it than just that (Mainly because he only chose to do this after officially graduating from boot camp instead of doing it somewhere in the middle of it). Sure we never see Pyle’s history or what his home life was like, but I think this act was mostly influenced by his childhood experiences. Why do I think that? Pyle only shoots Hartman after he asks Pyle:

*Didn’t Mommy and Daddy give you enough attention when you were a child?!*

After hearing that line and seeing Pyle’s reaction to it makes me wonder if all of the previous scenes involving Hartman’s abuse towards Pyle triggered a trauma reaction in him which made him want to do this. Since eventually Pyle also becomes more skilled with his rifle and doesn’t seem to be very good at anything else, it makes me wonder if his intention with joining the Marines in the first place was only to learn how to shoot professionally. In a previous scene Hartman is grilling his platoon on people who have carried out horrible acts such as Charles Whitman and Lee Harvey Oswald who learned the weapon skills they used in their acts from their time in the Marines. Part of me can’t help but wonder if that scene was left in the film not just to show more of Pyle’s crazy face, but to also subtly tell the audience what Pyle’s goal was.

Perhaps he joined with the full intention of learning how to shoot so he can use those skills on the people who wronged him only to find that there was someone else he’d rather use those skills on. If Hartman truly did remind Pyle of his abusive parents, then he probably just couldn’t take any more of Hartman’s crap by the end of it and felt more comfortable just killing him instead. Why did he kill himself then? Ultimately it would be pretty hard to get away with the murder of a highly decorated military officer with an eyewitness and within earshot of the rest of the packed base in order for him to eventually go on to kill his parents as well. Likely he did the only logical thing he thought he could do after something like that.

However, this is only an interpretation not the interpretation. It’s definitely not perfect and could easily be incorrect (I could just as easily be reading too deeply into it), but what matters more I think is what Pyle says here.

Being the literal title of the movie, you’d think there should be something profound in this scene the director wants us to walk out of the theater with. In the end, the more you break down Pyle’s character I think it makes the message of the scene harder to decipher, but maybe even that wasn’t the filmmakers’ intentions. Like I said earlier, I may also be completely wrong with my interpretation of Pyle’s character which could also be making this task more difficult for me. You could say that in the end what this scene was trying to convey is that despite going through so much military training and becoming as disciplined as he was, Hartman ends up getting killed in a place that was supposed to be safe: in the United States, in a Marine base, by someone who was supposed to be on his side. Maybe that’s what the movie is trying to tell us. Vietnam may have been portrayed as a war against communism, much like the Cold and Korean wars, but it was ultimately a slap in the face to the Americans it proclaimed to be protecting and the Vietnamese people who ended up being caught in the crossfire. Most of all, to the brave souls who gave their lives trying to fight that war. To me, that’s what the overall point of this scene is.

Wow, that was quite a ride! How’re we moving on from that? Well, when the shot of Pyle’s dead body fades to black it stays black for a few seconds before fading into this.

*Me so horny. Me love you long time.*
Well *that’s* a tone shift.

Now what we have is Private Joker along with his journalist partner Private Rafterman (played by Kevyn Major Howard) being propositioned by a prostitute to the tune of “These Boots are Made for Walkin’” by Nancy Sinatra. Huh. Still thinking about the kid that blew his brains out after murdering his drill instructor. One thing I will say about the tone shift is that the first third of the film compared to the last two thirds of the film are trying to say very specific things about the nature of war. While the first act was mostly focused on how America wronged its own soldiers, the second and third acts are more focused on how those very same soldiers wronged the Vietnamese people. By the end credits there practically isn’t any character that doesn’t have their hands clean. The Vietnamese citizens in these scenes (because there’s another prostitute scene later) are clearly not right to exploit women for their own personal gains, but at the same time Joker and Rafterman are way too eager to assert their entitled dominance over them as well. We eventually see how the prostitute’s proposition was only a ploy for some guy to steal Rafterman’s camera and Joker gives the least intimidating ‘fuck you’ I’ve ever seen.

Great job there, Bruce Lee.
I think an inflatable tube man mascot would've been more intimidating.

In the end I think that both the first and last two thirds of the film work well off of each other and play a big part in conveying the overarching theme of war and its aftermath to the audience, however I still think that the transition between the two could’ve been better. Ultimately it’s just a bit too quick to start the next section of the movie when only a few seconds ago we were still processing the lifeless bodies on the floor of the Marine base bathroom. While I don’t think it’s a bad choice to have humor contrast heavy drama there does need to be a proper transition between 2 polar opposite tones and it doesn’t quite fit in this moment.

Anyway, another big part that adds to the entitlement of these soldiers is how we see Rafterman complaining to Joker about how it’s frustrating to him that the Vietnamese citizens don’t like the American soldiers in their homeland. Again, just like the first moments of the film that introduced us to boot camp, we have tone building for this section of the movie straight away. Not only are the American troops fighting for a flimsy cause at best, they also neglect to remember that while their fight is considered a moral crusade in their home country, in Vietnam they’re just the people who came in with no stakes in this fight just to fuck shit up even more. Of course the Vietnamese citizens wouldn’t immediately and wholeheartedly welcome these people into their country with their tanks, bombs, and guns, because why should they? Something else that becomes apparent straight from the opening of this section is the consistent use of dehumanizing language, mostly racial slurs, that the Americans use to describe their enemy.

*You know half these g*** whores are serving officers in the Viet Cong?*

The Tet Holiday is like the 4th of July, Christmas, and New Year's all rolled into one. Every z*****head in 'Nam, North and South, will be banging gongs, barking at the moon, and visiting his dead relatives.

When you break it down, this has always been a cheap tactic to get the people fighting your wars to feel less bad killing your enemy. They’re not human, they’re just g***s, how can you feel bad killing them if they’re not even human? You hear this kind of language constantly throughout this part of the movie to the point where it gets really tiring (it wasn’t tolerable the first time they said it, so it surely won’t be the 87th time), and I’m guessing that’s definitely what the filmmakers wanted. Also, since Joker and his crew of journalists are, you know, journalists, they tend not to see the most action and this first bit mostly involves them being bored that nothing happens around here. Again we get the sense that the lives of these people (Vietnamese natives and American troops alike) are completely inconsequential since killing each other is better than ‘being bored’ of all things. Yeah, and I once had a whole week with practically nothing to do during summer vacation, that doesn’t mean I’d rather be killing people!

[stretches] *I am fucking bored to death, man!*

More interesting stuff about Joker is that in the meetings with his boss Lieutenant Lockhart (played by John Terry) he seems to be somewhat stand-offish and even mouths off to his Lieutenant on a few occasions. When faced with an authority figure it seems as if he feels the need to express a different side of himself, a side that has more complicated feelings about the war than how he acts around his fellow Privates. Lieutenant Lockhart asks Joker to reprint a story he wrote to include a kill (whether he saw it or not) and Joker basically tells him that if we’re making up kills now, why not make it a general that got killed? It’s an interesting split that Joker has on-screen being more logical and grounded in the scenes with Lieutenant Lockhart and more energetic and action-hungry in scenes with soldiers of a similar rank to him.

The perfect representation of this is that Joker wrote the phrase ‘Born to Kill’ on his helmet, yet he also wears a peace button prominently on his uniform. Through non-verbal means, the movie is getting across that deep down Joker is a deeply conflicted person and by the end of the movie he’ll actually end up learning something. That thing being exactly what he got himself into. However, I’m getting ahead of myself.

For now there’s a cease-fire called for the locals to celebrate the Tet Holiday, however (if you know you’re history) that isn’t gonna last. Sure enough, the Tet Offensive comes in and it comes in hard when Joker and the rest of his journalist team are forced to defend themselves at their base.

Luckily they don’t get the worst of it as compared to several other military bases such as the ones in Saigon and Khe Sanh, but this gives the journalist team the perfect opportunity to get out into the field and report on such an unprecedented attack. Since Lockhart is sick of Joker’s shit, he sends him out there with Rafterman since Joker is technically in charge of him. This is when we run into a truly delightful human being!

*Git some! Git some!*
What's he shooting at you may ask?
Oh, you know...

Just innocent civilians fleeing for their lives.

*Ain't war hell?*
Yeah, **you're not helping**!
I agree with Rafterman.

As we can see, much like the prostitute scene from earlier, the American soldiers are all too eager to thrust themselves upon the people whose country they were forced to invade (though in very different ways than what we saw before). The brutality behind this mindset becomes all the more apparent only after Joker and Rafterman land and come across a mass grave of people who were killed for not wanting to attend ‘political reeducation’ (which is basically code for ‘Chinese concentration camps, but it’s okay because we’re doing it’).

**This** is Stanley Kubrick's daughter, Vivian, who was also the composer for this movie.
Pretty cool, huh?

As more random Marines throw around words that would get them cancelled today, Joker and Rafterman eventually make their way to the 1st Platoon to meet up with Joker’s former boot camp buddy Cowboy and his squad out in the field. Like I said earlier in the section regarding the first act, Cowboy’s and Joker’s friendship isn’t particularly expanded on there, but it’s here that we get a lot more of them together and they’re pretty cute. I mean heck, just look at these smiles when they see each other again for the first time after so long.

That is just so heartwarming and genuine to me.
It makes me smile every time.
Even if they're talking about...weird stuff.
I'm not even gonna write it here because: *weird*.

It’s here we’re also introduced to a few more characters that we’ll get to know a bit more over time including Crazy Earl (played by Kieron Jecchinis), Eightball (played by Dorian Harewood), and everyone’s favorite meathead: Animal Mother (played by Adam Baldwin).

*I'm gonna tear you a new asshole*.
All things considered, Animal Mother is my least favorite character.

I know that’s definitely saying something in a lineup of unlikable characters, but for me he’s easily the worst. He’s just a complete ass with practically no redeeming qualities. He’s belligerent, rude, racist, and stupid, but not a fun or adorable Jayne Cobb kind of stupid, the kind of stupid that runs face first into a firefight when he doesn’t even know where his enemy is and disregards orders from people smarter than him in the process. Needless to say I have a hard time getting through a lot of his scenes, although characters like Crazy Earl come close to out awful-ing Animal Mother on occasion.

I will never forget this day: the day I came to Hue City and fought 1 million NVA g***s. I love the little commie bastards, man, I really do. These enemy grunts are as hard as slant-eyed drill instructors. These are great days we're living, bros! We are jolly green giants walking the Earth with guns. These people we wasted here today are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting!
**Can we get the camera off this guy**, he's driving me crazy!

So they march through the next NVA hotspot they’re supposed to clear, and upon clearing it “Surfin’ Bird” by Trashmen starts playing. At first I was taken aback by this musical choice considering the horrific slaughter that’s taking place in the background of this overtly goofy song, but after thinking it over I think it’s meant to represent the mood of the soldiers. We see when the cameras roll in to shoot the 1st Platoon on their mission alongside tank support that they eat up every moment they have on camera and joke about how badass they feel blowing these people away which makes the music choice make more sense. Only when the Platoon has to come to grips with the reality of war by taking a look at the brave soldiers on their side that they lost during the fighting does the mood come back down to where it should be. Also, as much as I said I don’t like Animal Mother, he actually makes a good point here.

*You think we waste g***s for "freedom"? This is a slaughter.*
Love him or hate him, he's spittin' straight facts.

At this point the camera crews gear up to interview each of the soldiers and they’re finally given the chance to talk honestly about exactly how the war makes them feel. Most of them don’t mince their words either.

Well I don't think there's any question about it, I mean, we're the best, I mean all that bullshit about the Air Cav. When the shit really hits the fan, who do they call? They call Mother Green and her Killing Machine.

*"Do I think America belongs in Vietnam?" Umm, I don't know,* I belong in Vietnam, tell you that.

*And I quote LBJ: "I will not send American boys 8 or 10 thousand miles around the world to do a job that Asian boys oughta be doin' for themselves."*
This is Doc Jay by the way (played by Jon Stafford).
Don't get attached.

Personally think, uh, they don't really wanna be involved in this war, you know? I mean, like, they sorta, like, they took away our freedom and gave it to the g***s, you know? They don't want it. They'd rather be alive than free, I guess. Poor dumb bastards.

*Well the ones I'm - I'm fightin' at are some pretty - pretty bad boys. I'm not real, uh, I'm not real keen on some of these fellas that are..."supposedly"* ***on our side****. I keep meetin' them comin' the other way. Yeah.*

*I mean, we're getting killed for these people and they don't even appreciate it. They think it's a big joke.*

*"What do I think about America's involvement in the war?" Well, I think we should win.*

I wanted to see exotic Vietnam: the Jewel of Southeast Asia. I, uh, I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture and...kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!

The more you hear the perspectives of each of these individual soldiers, the more you can’t help but think about the destruction they’re reveling in. All of them, even Joker, are going on and on about how much they think that their position in Vietnam is 100% justified, how they can’t sanction other people’s dissent towards the war, and how it’s basically their God-given right to blow away the Vietnamese in the name of anti-communism. It’s legit disheartening and depressing seeing these people copy-and-paste their home country’s rhetoric and just running with it. It certainly doesn’t get any easier to watch when we get another prostitute scene.

*Hey, you boys want No. 1 fucky?*
Never. Say that. Again.

Another common thread in this movie is its consistent boy’s club attitude and blatant misogyny especially in the second act here. Personally I think this’ll come back around in a pretty clever way in the climax, but it doesn’t make any of these scenes easier to watch. We have Eightball try to buy his way into this woman’s pants until she says she won’t do it on account of him…being Black. She believes the stereotype that Black men are more ‘well-endowed’ than other men, so Eightball whips out his penis to prove that it’s strong but not too long. I hate that I said that. In the end she agrees only for Animal Mother to interrupt so he can steal Eightball’s turn. In case you needed any more reasons to hate Animal Mother, he also says:

*All fucking n*****s must hang*!
[UNKNOWN OFF-SCREEN SOLDIER] *FUCK YOU!*
I agree.

After fading into the next shot, the movie makes the viewing experience slightly more enjoyable by killing Crazy Earl with a stuffed rabbit.

Since Crazy Earl was technically the leader of the squad, Cowboy calls into command and ends up becoming the new squad leader himself. His first act as squad leader: getting everyone lost.

*I think we're here, and we should be here.*

This is also where we see some of Cowboy’s characterization I mentioned before start to come out. I said that he had leadership qualities but was still a pretty fearful guy as we can see when he starts to have his own mini panic after realizing he led his Platoon the wrong way. He’s a bit like Gorman from Aliens that way. He also lashes out at Joker when he correctly assumes they’re lost.

[JOKER] *What, are we lost?*
[COWBOY] *Joker, shut the fuck up.*

Cowboy lets the squad know they’re changing direction only to send out Eightball on his own to find out where they should be going. Well, this seems promising.

Part of why I think Cowboy decided to do something like this is that not only is he an inexperienced leader, since Crazy Earl was the squad leader before him, but as I said before he’s also having a moment after realizing he led his Platoon the wrong way so he’s likely not thinking clearly. Unfortunately this decision ends up costing Eightball his life which only adds to Cowboy’s panic. He ends up calling in tank support since he doesn’t know how many shooters and/or snipers there are, but tank support is experiencing delays at the moment. This gives the sniper more opportunities to shoot Eightball another 3 times to lure more soldiers out into the open. Cowboy knows that’s what they’re trying to do, but Doc Jay makes the dumb decision to go out and try to save Eightball himself against Cowboy’s orders. This looks even more promising.

I know he’s just trying to help his teammate, but it’s still not a good idea to run into a fight you know nothing about. Another thing I should mention is that the gore effects are really raw and gritty. When paired with the slow-motion filming of the soldiers in pain, it really amplifies how real it is to me.

When Cowboy hears back from command that they can’t send tanks their way, he decides that the squad needs to pull out before they potentially get hit by an ambush. Animal Mother being Animal Mother however just runs in guns blazing. As it turns out there is just a lone sniper attacking them (Animal Mother didn’t know that though, so it was still a dumb move), so Animal Mother yells back to Cowboy that he should move up the squad. After doing so Cowboy tries to call back to command and call off tank support which only earns him a bullet through the back.

For a second it seems like Cowboy might be able to make it, but in the end he succumbs to his wound and dies in Joker’s arms.

While I can’t say I feel super emotional over this death, in the end my feelings on it are still kinda complicated, but what gets some emotions out of me is just Joker’s reaction to it. Like before we saw how much they enjoyed each other’s company, and while I wasn’t always interested in the stuff they talked about, I at least enjoyed how much they had fun together. Ultimately I can’t help but feel the slightest bit sad when I see this scene. However, my feelings on it are only going to get even more complicated once we get to the end of this climax. Animal Mother decides he wants some payback and Joker agrees, so they throw some smoke grenades in the sniper’s line of sight (why didn’t they do that before?) so they can sneak their way into the sniper’s building. Joker makes his way to the sniper’s location, presumably steps on a flimsy stick, and we get the reveal of the sniper.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the sniper turned out to be a woman.

It definitely makes you look back on the previous prostitute scenes a bit differently once you realize that this woman killed 3 American soldiers by herself. Even though what she’s doing is morally gray at best, at the end of the day she may just be doing what she had to in order to survive like those prostitutes from earlier. Maybe she didn’t even want to fight in this war, but circumstances outside of her control forced her hand. If we are going for more of a feminist statement though, I feel the need to mention that if Kubrick did have these thoughts about women it still didn’t stop him from abusing Shelley Duvall on the set of The Shining, but sure, Kubrick. However, before you get a chance to think about the sniper’s perspective in this war, Rafterman comes in and blows her away.

Once again I get some really complicated feelings as the rest of the Platoon finds the sniper on the ground full of bullet holes and bleeding to death. Especially when this happens.

And it gets even worse when she says this.

Guilt flashes in Joker’s eyes as he thinks about what he, his teammates, and his country have done up until this point when he makes the decision that he has to put her out of her misery. It takes him a little bit to muster up the courage, but he eventually shows her mercy.

Even with the death of his closest comrade, Cowboy, Joker still can’t find any joy in this killing. This also creates the 1,000 yard stare that one of Joker’s journalist partners mentioned back before the Tet Offensive as well.

*You know [Joker's] never been in the shit 'cause he ain't got the stare. A Marine gets it after he's been in the shit for too long.*

That I think is the most powerful part of this moment. I said before that eventually Joker ends up learning something by the end of the movie, and this is what it is: war is hell, and I’m Satan’s trigger man. Once he hears the sniper beg him to kill her it hits him that the people they’re killing are people who have their own goals, lives, and dreams that he and his country are all too happy to fuck up. His entire worldview has been shattered, he finally comes to grips with exactly what he’s been doing, and he realizes he’s wrong. His teammates around him don’t see the same thing as they hype Joker up for being a relentless, hardcore killer, but only Joker knows the truth. All he can do is look at his comrades in arms with that same vacant stare as it’s now his burden to carry the reality of war on his shoulders unbeknownst to everyone else around him.

Since the battle is won, the Platoon sweeps their way across the rest of the now overtaken Hue City while singing the only song they all know the words to.

[singing]
*M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E. Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me?*

Not only is it likely the only song they all know the words to, but it also probably gives them a sense of child-like comfort after experiencing as much death and tragedy that they have over this long, drawn-out battle. Joker even explains over his closing narration that he now starts to yearn for what’s waiting for him back home given everything he’s been through, which to me makes this closing song make even more sense. With that the movie fades to black, the credits roll, and ‘Paint It Black’ by the Rolling Stones plays which I think is a great backdrop to allow us as the audience to ruminate on everything that just happened. Believe me, there’s still so much to talk about. Let’s wrap up these thoughts in a neat little bow here.

Given everything that this movie has in it it’s practically impossible to discuss everything it’s trying to convey in 1 review, but I think I can at least elaborate on some of my larger thoughts in this format. After having seen this movie at least 6 times for the sake of this review, I can say that I still believe what I said in the introduction. That being the central thesis of this film is basically: all this misery, and for what? From every character, every detail, and every shot you feel the brutality of war which is also why I think this film is a perfect encapsulation of what a ‘war epic’ is. The main thing about conveying any kind of thought through an artistic medium is not just to tell the audience what it’s about, but to make them feel it. That’s how true art transcends people and cultures. Sure the individual characters may not be particularly well developed, but in terms of what their role is in conveying the message I think they hit the nail on the head. I should also admit that the views expressed in this movie on war are very similar to my own, so I’m biased in that sense towards this way of thinking, but I still feel as if a lot of profound thoughts are contained from the opening through the ending.

I’m sorry as well if this review didn’t seem to go into as much detail on the minutiae of this film during the actual meat of this post. Since it constantly throws heavy shit after heavy shit at you it’s easier for me to discuss the details of this movie after watching it as opposed to while watching it. Once you get through it though, it does leave you feeling a lot like Joker after killing the sniper which is definitely one of the things I know the filmmakers wanted us to take away from this viewing experience. Even if you don’t fully remember each of the characters individually after watching, which I should mention is another detail I’m sure the filmmakers wanted to get across like I mentioned at the beginning of the review with the haircut montage, the sheer pain, heartlessness, and brutality of war that’s conveyed through this movie is something that’ll stick with you for a long time, perhaps even forever. The only reason I watched this movie as many times as I did this week is because I want to go into as much detail as I can when reviewing movies, but normally this would probably be a movie I’d feel more comfortable watching every once in a while. Much like other movies that are very well made yet heavy and uncomfortable, it’s not one that I could watch day after day because of the harsh tone.

Anyway, I’m likely talking in circles so I’ll wrap this up soon. The last big thing I’d like to mention is that this movie is one of those that you have so many thoughts after watching you can’t possibly articulate all of them accurately. By all means, if y’all would like to talk more about this movie (and about things I most definitely didn’t discuss) then feel free to leave a comment and I’d love to discuss with you especially since this is certainly a movie that’s worth discussing! If you don’t mind a heavy viewing experience for your weekend movie night this week, then I think Full Metal Jacket might just be the film for you!

If I were to give this movie a rating (which I will, because that’s what I do) then I’d give it a 4.5/5 M14’s. Kind of like I mentioned earlier with some of the scene transitions (which I know is a weird thing to nitpick), sometimes the tone can be a bit hard to pin down which can leave some moments feeling confused. Overall that’s pretty much the only note that I have against this movie, because everything else is so well done. It’s that one thing that just keeps me from giving it full marks, but still a film I’d recommend.

(I make no claim of ownership for any of the images used in this post)

(Each of them are owned entirely by their respective copyright holders, which are not me)

(I’m just a humble blogger who talks about movies, I do not make them)

(Yet)

Willow

The Dark Crystal