"That's a nice-a donut."
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Jarhead (2005)
With a theatrical marketing campaign that was praised, and helped along by its song from popular rap artist Kanye West, Jarhead was a hot topic of conversation upon its release last year for the fact that it was one of just a small handful of movies that had broached the short-lived Gulf War under the first President Bush. From award-winning director Sam Mendes (of American Beauty) the movie was destined to be a war classic and would undoubtedly make gloriously subtle comparisons to the much more controversial mess in the Middle East that our country is currently is. But, alas, as with most of its predecessors (Three Kings and Courage Under Fire), it is a solid but ho-hum effort that fails to deliver on several levels.
The movie is based on a true story, from former Marine Anthony Swofford's book about his days as an elite scout sniper before and during the war. Jake Gyllenhaal is Swofford, and we follow him from the beginning during his rough days in boot camp. Peter Sarsgaard is fellow Marine Troy, who befriends Swofford. Very shortly their unit is off to the desert as one of the very first to be deployed during Operation Desert Shield. As days become weeks, and weeks become months, waiting for the war to actually start, the men in the unit must find ways to kill time in the scorching and brutal heat. (For the record, the number one way to pass time is self-pleasure, and the number one beverage of choice is water - lots of it.) As time passes Swofford and Troy wonder when they will finally be able to kill someone. It's really not too absurd of a though; after all, that is what they are trained to do. Eventually the war begins, and we wonder if they will ever get their chance.
The movie is beautifully shot, which is not surprising given that the great Roger Deakens (his credits include The Shawshank Redemption, The Man Who Wasn't There, and A Beautiful Mind) served as lead photographer. We are really given a sense of longing and nothingness out in the vast fields of sand and wind. Shots later on in the movie, of burning oil fields, are respectfully captured but still provide a real sense of shock.
Some of the side characters are pretty standard cliches: the Midwestern home boy, the partying Latino, the raunchy and wild obnoxious guy, the superior who is usually a jerk but when you get to know him he's not so bad (played by Jaime Foxx), and of course the hard ass drill instructor. But the lead actors are quite good. Between this and Brokeback Mountain, Gyllenhaal has certainly convinced me that he is one of the leading young actors of today, and Sarsgaard of course is great as always. It's no surprise that the chemistry is so strong between the two actors, given that they are good friends in real life, and soon to be brothers in law. Unfortunately the wonderful Chris Cooper's appearance is all-too brief.
The coda of the film feels completely irrelevant to the story, and unnecessary. Now, I'm not sure where I would have ended it exactly, but as it is, the ending feels like something that was tacked on after one of those infamous movie focus groups. On the whole, Jarhead seems to aspire to be much more than it really is. It ends up being a rather simple war tale - nothing more and nothing less. It isn't exactly a lightweight fluff propaganda piece or popcorn feast, but on the other hand, we get no deep philosophical essays or diatribes about the atrocities of war (or, on the other side, the necessity of war). The only thing close to this is that Swofford seems to regret joining the forces, and doesn't particularly want to be there. Nobody really has any great enlightening, or is really any different in the end than in the beginning. It is what it is, and that is a solid, reasonably well-told and fairly entertaining story of one man's experience in a war. But it lacks a heart. I'll add it to the ever-growing list of decent films that I wanted to like much more than I actually did.
The Verdict: B-.
Michael Bentley 9:38 AM
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