60 out of 69 people found the following review helpful:

American

Gideon Wellins from Manchester, England, 12th January, 2006

After running out of life options, Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenhall) has just joined the Marines. Under the tutelage of his commanding officers (including a pronounced Jamie Foxx), hazing from his fellow enlistees, and the promise of eventual freedom from the armed forces, Swofford loses himself in the experience of being a soldier. As Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait in 1990, Swofford and his squad are shipped over to the Middle East to await activation. Baffled by his new surroundings and unable to experience the violence of a soldier's life like he was promised, Swofford wanders though the first Gulf War disillusioned, bored, and angry as he waits for the meaning behind the madness to sink in. 'Jarhead' is a competent war film, detailing the era when computers and precision wrestled away the fighting from the grunts. Mendes is after the impotency (often literally) of the modern soldier, not the bigger political parallel of war in Iraq (though he does slip into speechifying and underlining here and there). In book form, Swofford's pathway was personal and focused. Regardless of how lush and fully realized the imagery is, 'Jarhead' as a movie is stuck permanently in basic training. Good, watchable movie.

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49 out of 61 people found the following review helpful:

Dull, thats all

barnetti from London, 26th August, 2006

Having just watched this film I find myself needing to write my first ever review.

This film is seriously boring, almost nothing happens during the entire film. The acting is good, but one cannot escape the fact that the script writers give the main actors very little room to do anything.

All in all the film does address Iraq from a fresh pespective, there are no ridiculous Arnie style explosions, I just wish that there was a bit more to it.

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37 out of 59 people found the following review helpful:

Every war is different, every war is the same

JediSi from , 23rd September, 2007

Jarhead is based upon marine Anthony Swofford's best selling novel that resembles about his pre-Desert Storm experiences and his experiences fighting in Kuwait. The movie is excellent and it shows a terrific view on Swofford's war experiences, including his training and boot camp experiences. Technically, this movie is flawless. Beautifully shot, great contrasts and use of colour. The acting is great too, with no weak links. It was refreshing to see a war film not actually based on the battle, but on the mental struggle these marine officers had to go through day and night and not actually being able to see any of the action or use any of the skills they have learnt from their intense training. There's no hidden agenda in the film...there's no political stance. Just don’t watch this expecting Full Metal Jacket or Saving Private Ryan. This is different, and…….special.

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30 out of 44 people found the following review helpful:

Brilliant

butters787 from from Salford, 28th February, 2006

Another great film from Sam Mendes. After "American Beauty" and "Road to Perdition" (all very good films), I was keen to see his latest creation.

The whole idea of the film, that the American soldiers head off to Iraq in search of some action and instead do sweet FA, is cleverly done (and probably true, definatly more so than any of the pro-American war movies that we often see today).

Great performance from Jake Gyllenhaal (as per usual), well direced shot and scripted.

I also found it very funny, far more than I thought it would be.

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Jarhead 2005

A Customer from Ilkley, 15th March, 2010

Didn't rate it. Found it boring and without any real excitement. Expected more to it. Wouldn't recommend it.Poor.

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Good, but........

Steve Hatton from Cornwall, UK, 12th March, 2010

The film is, without doubt, a serious indictment of the nonsense surrounding war in general. It displays the horrors (both physical and psychological) and is acted very well. Trouble is, for me, it was yelling at me about the horrors so much, that it forgot to entertain. Probably just me, but I like to be entertained as well as having the hard line sell (if thats the purpose), and whilst one section was met, and exceeded, the other was sadly lacking. Worth a watch despite my poor score.

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about jarhead

A Customer from oxfordshire, 10th March, 2010

I really didnt enjoy this film

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dissapointing

terrieandpeter from , 3rd February, 2010

i always look on the bright side when reviewing and were happy with nearly all the films we see but this one was 'not' good..............it had no point or story line it might as well have been a camera man following some soldiers around for a few weeks because thats all it was like. seems a sad film most of the time but we just didnt get the point of the film and a ending which seemed hopeless. its a shame since the male in it has to be associated with it as he did so well in 'day after tomorrow'

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