Full Metal Jacket (1987) Dir: Stanley Kubrick
- Ridley Coote
- Jun 23
- 2 min read
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Although he is considered by many to be the greatest filmmaker of all time, I've seen relatively few of Stanley Kubrick's many films. This 1987 Vietnam War film has been on my list to watch for a very long time now, and I was very pleased when the opportunity finally arose to see it. It's often referred to as one of the great war films of the previous century, which hopefully was a good forebear.
The film's visuals were exceptional, which should come as no surprise to any who have ventured to watch any of Stanley Kubrick's films in the past. The sets were vast, the action set pieces were explosive and enthralling, and the costume design was pretty much on point. It felt like a given that this would at least be a visually competent film, but, even so, I was still pleasantly impressed.
Kubrick always seems to give his film's very good, and often diverse, soundtracks, and this film was no different. It was full of classic songs from the 60's, which was both appropriate for the time of the events in the film, and effective for its storytelling purposes. The duality of the upbeat music and downbeat narrative gave the film an interesting sense of irony, which was only emphasised by the plot.
That aforementioned plot was compelling, but fairly standard content for Vietnam War films, as well as most military films in general. The morals being that war changes you, war destroys lives, the Americans should never have gone to Vietnam, and that war makes nihilists of us all. There were some very intense scenes, particularly during the training camp part of the film.
Matthew Modine provides the film with a steady and mildly endearing character, albeit one who is contradictory in nature, albeit deliberately, in fairness. I thought that he and Vincent D'Onofrio had great chemistry, and were each the best actors in the film. D'onofrio's transformation throughout the film is harrowing, and a brutally clear vision of the trauma that can be caused by military life and intensely toxic masculinity.
The best of the other performances came from R. Lee Ermey, who was famously a real life former US Marine drill instructor, which was evident in how terrifically believable and intense he was. I thought that Adam Baldwin, Dorian Harewood, Kevyn Major Howard, Arliss Howard and Ed O'Ross were the other names who I felt were worth mentioning, at least briefly.
Overall, whilst this was certainly a very well made and visually impressive film, I was actually slightly disappointed by what it provided. I guess this was a case of setting my expectations slightly too high, because I was hoping for something a little more impactful. This was a good film, I won't pretend I didn't like it, but it didn't give me anything unique. It felt like a lot of other war films, especially those surrounding the Vietnam War.
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