Greatest War Movie of All Time - Final Four

[Colonel Kataffy]

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FMJ is going to dominate this poll. Imagine if Kubrick hadn't shat the bed with the 2nd half of it!

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Its a shame that there isn't really a format to release half a film. Cause it really was two different films smashed together for no good reason. I wouldn't say shat the bed, but it just didn't fit to have that second part tacked on.

FMJ over Platoon? AN over DB? You guys need to lay off the pipe.

Das Boot is the greatest war film ever, with Platoon second.

[Blarg]

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[ QUOTE ]
FMJ is going to dominate this poll. Imagine if Kubrick hadn't shat the bed with the 2nd half of it!

[/ QUOTE ]

Its a shame that there isn't really a format to release half a film. Cause it really was two different films smashed together for no good reason. I wouldn't say shat the bed, but it just didn't fit to have that second part tacked on.

[/ QUOTE ]

The second part just didn't have the enormous tension and emotional impact of the first. The first was a complete movie of its own. They really did feel like two different movies that didn't feed into each other all that well, and I've never bumped into anyone who didn't like the first part far more than the second and didn't find the transition jarring and unworkable.

The prlonged death scene of the sniper girl ending was especially terrible, almost Spielberg-level terrible. It was a bad idea to try to have the death of a single enemy stand in for so much, but the choice made of what kind of enemy -- one that was trying to shoot at you, and who then actively wanted to do and asked for your help -- took the story too much from something you could really identify with and that seemed somewhat plausible into something that succeeded only metaphorically but fell apart fictionally. It was a painfully clumsy intellectual crash and burn, a love for meaning and metaphor ham-fistedly chopping its storytelling out from under itself.

In a way, though the film was aiming for a lot more, it was kind of like The Shining, a magnificent failure -- Kubrick having moments of unforgettable brilliance but not quite trusting the material.

[Blarg]

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FMJ over Platoon? AN over DB? You guys need to lay off the pipe.

Das Boot is the greatest war film ever, with Platoon second.

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Agreed. Das Boot is the only film of the four without major flaws. It's actually incredibly well done. Platoon has some flaws, but comes in as an easy second as far as coherent films. The other two have moments of absolute brilliance, but they are clumsily pasted into lumbering, uncoordinated films that are best remembered not as a whole, but for some key great scenes.

There's a huge feeling of "If only..." about Apocalypse Now and FMJ. They could have been much, much better films.

Das Boot is pretty much perfect as is.

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
FMJ over Platoon? AN over DB? You guys need to lay off the pipe.

Das Boot is the greatest war film ever, with Platoon second.

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Close. Das Boot is number 1 with FMJ number 2.

~ Rick

[samjjones]

Good job. I enjoyed reading your commentary.

Kubrick's bed soilings are still far better than 99.9% of every other film ever made. I would not change one frame of the first hour of FMJ.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
FMJ is going to dominate this poll. Imagine if Kubrick hadn't shat the bed with the 2nd half of it!

[/ QUOTE ]

Its a shame that there isn't really a format to release half a film. Cause it really was two different films smashed together for no good reason. I wouldn't say shat the bed, but it just didn't fit to have that second part tacked on.

[/ QUOTE ]

The second part just didn't have the enormous tension and emotional impact of the first. The first was a complete movie of its own. They really did feel like two different movies that didn't feed into each other all that well, and I've never bumped into anyone who didn't like the first part far more than the second and didn't find the transition jarring and unworkable.

The prlonged death scene of the sniper girl ending was especially terrible, almost Spielberg-level terrible. It was a bad idea to try to have the death of a single enemy stand in for so much, but the choice made of what kind of enemy -- one that was trying to shoot at you, and who then actively wanted to do and asked for your help -- took the story too much from something you could really identify with and that seemed somewhat plausible into something that succeeded only metaphorically but fell apart fictionally. It was a painfully clumsy intellectual crash and burn, a love for meaning and metaphor ham-fistedly chopping its storytelling out from under itself.

In a way, though the film was aiming for a lot more, it was kind of like The Shining, a magnificent failure -- Kubrick having moments of unforgettable brilliance but not quite trusting the material.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree that it feels like two different movies, but I liked the prolonged death scene of the sniper. The viewer gets to see Private Joker standing there with his .45 in his hand making his warface for real as he kills the girl. At least Kubrick tries to tie the movie together with this scene.

[ChipWrecked]

One of the reviews of FMJ went something like: The first hour is perfect. After that, it degrades into brilliant.

[private joker]

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One of the reviews of FMJ went something like: The first hour is perfect. After that, it degrades into brilliant.

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It was Mike Clark, and the quote goes: "The first 45 minutes of Full Metal Jacket are perfect. Then it degenerates into one of the greatest films of all time."

BIMO.

[masse75]

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FMJ over Platoon? AN over DB? You guys need to lay off the pipe.

Patton is the greatest war film ever, with Platoon not even close.

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