Full Metal Jacket: Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam War Epic 80's Action Movie Review

From the start you are so glued to what is happening that you don't want to get up to pee, ever. R. Lee Ermey as the drill instructor Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, barking orders at the newly arrived recruits, delivers one of the best monologue sequences in a movie for all time. He was nominated for a golden globe: best supporting actor for the performance and this sets the tone for the rest of the movie. The whole first 20 minutes are of him rough riding the group of recruits into the ground and it is decidedly funny beyond belief. Then you get the feeling that something is about to happen that will make you feel guilty for laughing. You will have to watch it for yourself. The music will clue you in every time.

Full Metal Jacket takes you into the gritty part of war. How it shapes and transforms regular non-motivated wastes of life into a weapon. A weapon that can breathe and think and kill on command or at will. It follows the characters through their transformations through the funny and the serious. If you are even close to being a war movie buff, you need to pick up Full Metal Jacket for your collection. Some scenes will make you worry for your own future and some will make you laugh and it does it with a seemingly effortless flow of dialog and imagery. It all fits like reading the perfect novel in one sitting.

For the action purists Full Metal Jacket has tons of action after about the first 45 minutes. Also there is a truckload of killer one-liners, many of which are used in other movies and rap songs. For the watchers that want some comedy, watch the first 25 minutes of the movie. If you want drama it is sprinkled in as filler to make the movie flow brilliantly. For me it ranks in the top 5 of all time, definitely tops in the 80's movie category. It is out now on DVD and Blu-Ray so check it out for your self at any of these on-line retailers:

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