FULL METAL JACKET Movie Review
1987 Stanley Kubrick
The first third of Stanley Kubrick's take on the Vietnam War is as powerful and shocking as any film ever made about the military. That's the famous Parris Island section, which made Sgt. R. Lee Ermey a star. Though he had played an essentially identical role in The Boys in Company C, under Kubrick's direction, the stereotypical drill instructor was raised to new heights. As Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, Ermey achieves cinematic immortality.
In the film's opening shots, we see close-ups of new Marine recruits getting their heads shaved. The next shot follows Hartman as he strides through a barracks and completes the first stage of the young men's intimidating indoctrination into the Marine Corps. The scene also establishes the measured pace that Kubrick maintains throughout. Booming, gloriously profane, and imaginative, Sgt. Hartman is a force of nature that will mold these boys into killing machines. At that point, most war films would turn to the young men, sketch out their pasts and then show their transformation into a cohesive unit. Kubrick isn't interested. These kids are names and archetypes—Joker (Matthew Modine) the smart aleck; Cowboy (Arliss Howard) from Texas; Leonard, A.K.A. “Gomer Pyle” (Vincent D'Onofrio), the screwup—who will react differently to Hartman's approach.
Kubrick makes Ermey such a mesmerizing force that one key early element is easy to overlook. From the first moment we see him in the barber's chair, before we even know his name, it is abundantly clear that Leonard is mad. He has that familiar vacant, smiling, dull-eyed expression of evil that Kubrick also uses to define Little Alex in A Clockwork Orange and Jack Torrance in The Shining. The other characters do not see it, and so the inevitable confrontation between Hartman and Leonard is all the more horrifying.
The middle section of the film establishes Joker's role as a dissatisfied writer for Stars & Stripes, working behind the lines during the Tet Offensive of 1968, and his desire for some “trigger time” with his old pals from basic. That's where Kubrick shapes his view of the war as a Strangelovian exercise in futility. A nameless Colonel could have been quoting Jack D. Ripper when he states, “We are here to help the Vietnamese, because inside every Gook there is an American trying to get out. It's a hardball world, son. We've got to try to keep our heads until this peace craze blows over.” That part of the film stresses the sexual and moral corruption of the South Vietnamese, and distinguishes American and North Vietnamese reactions to it. As Kubrick and co-writers Gustav Hasford and Michael Herr put it, Americans indiscriminately kill civilians and cattle while the North Vietnamese specifically target important people.
In the third part, a new Kubrickian sociopath named Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin) is introduced, and the focus shifts to a patrol searching through the bombed out city of Hue to root out a sniper. That is where the filmmakers comment most pointedly on the war itself. They see it as a dead-end, winless enterprise where one strategy, based on flawed information, leads inevitably to escalation and deaths that serve no purpose. That's certainly a valid artistic interpretation of history. Many other films have made the same points, often more eloquently. But Kubrick isn't interested in eloquence, either.
The three sections are unmistakably separated from each other. The first stands on its own, though key elements are restated at the end. Given Kubrick's creative power and the artistic freedom from studio interference that he always enjoyed, he tells the story that he wants to tell, and the “broken” structure is intentional. For the viewer expecting a “traditional” war film, the result is disconcerting, frustrating, and somehow unfinished. Most Kubrick fans will admit that Paths of Glory and Dr. Strangelove are more enjoyable, but even if their man is not in top form, Full Metal Jacket is challenging, and repeated viewings reveal more details and connections.
Cast: Matthew Modine (Pvt. Joker), R. Lee Ermey (Gunnery Sgt. Hartman), Vincent D'Onofrio (Pvt. Leonard “Gomer Pyle"), Adam Baldwin (Animal Mother), Dorian Harewood (Eightball), Arliss Howard (Cowboy), Kevyn Major Howard (Rafterman), Ed O'Ross (Lt. Touchdown), John Terry (Lt. Lockhart), Jon Stafford (Doc Jay), Marcus D'Amico (Hand Job), Kieron Jecchinis (Crazy Earl), Bruce Boa (Col. Pogue), Kirk Taylor (Sgt. Payback), Tim Colceri (Door Gunner), Ian Tyler (Lt. Cleves), Gary Landon Mills (Donlon), Sal Lopez (T.H.E. Rock), Ngoc Le (V.C. sniper), Peter Edmund (Snowball), Tan Hung Francione (ARVN pimp), Leanne Hong (Motorbike hooker), Costas Dino Chimona (Chili); Written by: Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, Gustav Hasford; Cinematography by: Doug Milsome; Music by: Abigail Mead; Technical Advisor: R. Lee Ermey. Producer: Stanley Kubrick, Warner. Awards: Nominations: Academy Awards ‘87: Best Adapted Screenplay. Boxoffice: 46.3M. MPAA Rating: R. Running Time: 116 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV, 8mm, Closed Caption.