AC's Jarhead movie review

[ClaytonN]

awesomeness

So if I loved the book will I be horribly disappointed?

[RunDownHouse]

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Will people who liked "Black Hawk Down" with Josh Hartnett like this movie?

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I don't find Gyllenhaal as dreamy, but maybe that's just personal preference.

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Does it stick to a plot and ignore all sorts of political messages? (TSC said it has no plot already)

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There isn't a whole lot in the way of plot. It does do a fairly good job of avoiding politics. One character goes as far as to say (to a fellow Marine), "Once you're out here, that's all bullshit."

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Is there good action?

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Parts of it were very, very intense. Not blood-and-gore like Black Hawk Down, but tension intense.

Overall, I liked it. The lack of a plot led to a bit of a lack of closure at the end, but maybe that was sort of the point. As pointed out by the narrator, those experiences will never go away for those who were there. I'm not a big fan of Foxxxxxx, but he did do a very good job here. Gyllenhaal was also decent.

[Voltron87]

In a half sentence: [censored] great.

This is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Very well done, very funny, and well put together. Those who say it has no political message, you are just wrong and missing the point. (maybe spoilers, if you haven't seen it just see it I give it a full rec) 1. The politics of the war dont really have much to do with what the movie focuses on, and 2. the movie does address the politics, in that one scene where they are driving out and one guy says "man this is bullshit we are doing this so some kuwaitis can wipe their ass with oil" and the corporal replies "STFU, we are here now and we are in this". that short exchange and the total lack of any other political discourse IS the political aspect. i thought that and the vietnam vet at the end made up a very strong political aspect. maybe political is not the right word but it deals with "the bad [censored] in war".

i havent read the book, im going to now though. maybe since i havent read it I will view it in a different light than those who have. i honestly give this movie a 9/10, maybe even 9.5, one of the best ive seen in a long time. im seeing it again.

[dblgutshot]

The only part of the movie I really disliked (when comparing the movie to the book) was the vietnam vet scene. Scene was great in the book and in the movie I just thought it was way too awkward the way it was done.

[Voltron87]

I can see it being awesome in the book, and also why some people didnt really like it. i have mixed feelings about it too, but the content and idea of it is very important. I sort of thought it was supposed to be kind of awkward?

also- allstate man is showing up in all kinds of weird places

[A_C_Slater]

Can someone name a better movie made so far in this year?

[tdarko]

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totally watered down from the book.


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yeah, they spent two hours on the war and that was 20 pages of the book.

when the war ended in the movie, i leaned over to my gf and said, "this is gonna have to be a really long movie," knowing that they hadn't even got into troy's death and many other things.

but i did go into the movie expecting this, so i was entertained at least. jake's performance was very good.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I saw the trailer for this and was intrigued so I read the book. I like the book, but at the end I sort of felt like the author's problems didn't stem from the war or from being a marine; I think he would feel the same anguish had he never joined.

A lot of people are saying it didn't have much of a plot. Neither did the book. So the movie is probably pretty true to the source. I'm going to wait for it on dvd.

[tdarko]

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I saw the trailer for this and was intrigued so I read the book. I like the book, but at the end I sort of felt like the author's problems didn't stem from the war or from being a marine; I think he would feel the same anguish had he never joined.


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i guess we took two totally different views from this book. you think swofford feels anguish post-gulf war?