Jarhead
Jarhead
R | 04 November 2005 (USA)
Jarhead Trailers

Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swofford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action. Swofford struggles with the possibility of his girlfriend cheating on him, and as his mental state deteriorates, his desire to kill increases.

Reviews
Lovesusti

The Worst Film Ever

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Pacionsbo

Absolutely Fantastic

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Sarita Rafferty

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

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Francene Odetta

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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Tweekums

Anthony "Swoff" Swofford could have gone to college; instead he enlisted in the US Marine Corps… he soon starts to wonder if he made the right choice. He isn't very enthusiastic but shows aptitude with a rifle and ends up a Sniper Scout. When Saddam Hussein's forces invade Kuwait in the summer of 1990 it looks as though Swoff and his comrades are about to see action. They deploy to Saudi Arabia and await their orders to cross the border. They wait and they wait and they wait; as the weeks and months pass they stew in the desert and boredom takes its toll. Tempers fray, discipline breaks down and Swoff starts to question his sanity. When the order is finally given the war moves so fast that the Marines are behind the action; all they see is the aftermath of air attacks and burning oil fields then just as it looks as if they are going to see action the war is over.This is unusual for a 'war' movie in that there is so little actual war. Before that we get training scenes that will be familiar to anybody who has seen 'Full Metal Jacket' and the bulk of the film that shows us the marines waiting to go into battle. These scenes impressively capture the boredom and frustration the men suffer. Some of the ill-discipline is rather surprising; one can only hope that it is exaggerated for dramatic effect… especially the scene where Swoff threatens a fellow Marine with a loaded rifle! The scenes showing what the squad see during the war are disturbing without being too upsetting; most notably the night scene amongst the burning oil wells. The cast is solid with Jake Gyllenhaal dominating as Swoff. Overall I'd recommend this to anybody wanting a war film that is somewhat different to most; importantly for a film that is largely about boredom I never found it boring.

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john_seater

The people who produced this piece of junk apparently saw themselves as the successors of the line of movies made 30 or 40 years ago that were intent on showing the US military in Vietnam to be a bunch of worthless bloodthirsty losers. See Platoon for an example. This show has the same overall plot, just moved up in time to the first war in Iraq.There is no one in this movie that has any desirable qualities. The commanders are idiots. The NCOs are callous. The men are deranged. The wives send them home videos of themselves getting laid by their neighbors back home, and their girlfriends cheat on them and abandon them. Nobody, literally nobody, is worth a damn.OK, so the individuals are no good. What about the military itself? A bunch of incompetent fools who don't fight well, don't use their equipment properly, and who are disgusting boors.Negative ratings are not allowed. Even a zero is not allowed. So I have to give it a 1.

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ruimsl

Jarhead is a great movie by a great director Sam Mendes.I am not a huge fan of war movies, not as I was at least. But this movie gives us the view of the soldiers on standby immediately before engaging the enemy.In this particular case, the standby troops before the first Iraqi war. All the before action anxiety and bottled up testosterone is portrayed in a very realistic manner, with a superb performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.The trio made by Jake, Peter Sarsgaard and Jamie Foxx elevate the movie letting us see the hardships of soldiers constrained by politics.It is a very good war movie, in another very good example of Sam Mendes's work.

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Mario R

I have made an account here just to comment this movie. It's a complete waste of 2 hours, It's not a war movie because simply there is no fighting scenes, there is no plot. You wait for something to happen,but it never happens. The movie ends without a single fire shot, terrible just terrible. Don't watch it seriously. I was so frustrated after this 2 hours that simply I can't believe that this movie got 7.1 on IMDb, I mean who can rate this as a good war movie. There was not war, just the aftermath which was poorly portrayed. The only actor that was pleasant to watch was Jamie Foxx, his performance was fine overall. I'm out. Take my advice and stay away from this joke of a so called "war" movie.

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