February 2, 2007 - The Movie

War movies do one of two things: show us how awful war is, or how awful it is for the people in it. Even when the gags and jokes are at their maximum (M*A*S*H), movies remind us war is hell.

Many people have noted that Full Metal Jacket feels like two movies, the first half devoted to Marine draftees in Paris Island undergoing brutal basic training and the second half showing one of them caught up in the Tet Offensive. But there is a common thread, and that is what dehumanization can do to a man.

Part one opens with the hilarious montage of draftees getting their heads shaved with great expedience by a military barber, who ends up ankle deep in human hair. It's a lot less funny when Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey) is introduced. Ermey is a one-liner machine, spewing soundbites that can't be reprinted here but are nonetheless hilarious and the makings of movie history, like "What is your major malfunction, numb nuts?"

Among the recruits is a skinny kid who mouths off on day one and is dubbed Joker (Matthew Modeine) and a fat, not-to-sharp kid instantly dubbed Gomer Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio). D'Onofrio pulled a De Niro, gaining 70 pounds for this role, and while he's not as great an actor as De Niro, he is memorable here.

"Private Pyle" is relentlessly ridiculed, belittled and abused by Hartman for his foul-ups and inability to do even the most basic tasks. When he fails to straighten up, Hartman takes out his anger on the rest of the troop, which leads to a nasty bit of hazing (what they called a "code red" in A Few Good Men).

Modine's Private Joker is the only one of the three main characters going on to act two, but his presence is negligible in act one. D'Onofrio and Ermey completely dominate the first half, which ends in an almost inevitable fashion.

On to part two. Private Joker is now a part of the journalist pool, doing mostly puff stories in the early days of the Vietnam conflict. Things are pretty slack. The guys check out the hookers, leading to another immortal line ("Me love you long time."). Joker warns his editor he's heard rumors of an upcoming offensive, but his boss is dismissive, since the Tet holiday is coming up.

Shows that some reporters have better sources than others. Joker, wearing a peace pin on his jacket and "Born to kill" scrawled on his helmet, finds himself in the middle of the bloody turning point of the war.

Most fans prefer the first half to the second, and why not? Ermey is priceless. I've heard he was brought in to train the actors, and as soon as he lit up as a Marine DI and Kubrick saw the reactions of the actors, he signed Ermey to play the role, rather than just train someone to do it.

But that's not to diminish D'Onofrio, whose character also evokes conflicting emotions. On the one hand, your first reaction is he shouldn't be there, he should be washed out and sent home. On the other hand, there is a notion that some people need to be pushed to find out what they have inside them, to bring out their best. Well, Sgt. Hartman found out what was inside Private Pyle, all right.

This isn't Kubrick's best movie, but it sure is his most quotable.

Score: 8 out of 10

The Video

This is interesting. Kubrick always preferred his movies be shown in 1.37:1 aspect ratio, the natural ratio of film. I first saw this movie in 1.85:1 mode when it was broadcast in high definition on the INHD network. Sure enough, it's in the same widescreen mode here as well.

Based on a 20-year-old film stock, Full Metal Jacket is less than ideal. The first half, taking place in the spartan, antiseptic barracks or plain green fields, looks largely clean, if a bit pale. The whites of the walls and men's underwear are free of noise. Not much detail emerges from the old film, though.

The most troublesome colors are flesh tones and reds. There are times when they look downright blotchy and uneven. Backgrounds also have trouble, showing a lack of focus. The rare colors we get in the film, such as flames or sunsets, look quite good. So it's a hit or miss transfer. For an old movie, done in widescreen without its director, this transfer may prove a bit controversial.

Score: 7 out of 10

Languages and Audio

Full Metal Jacket is presented in English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 with English, French and Spanish subtitles. The movie was made in the era before surround sound, and Kubrick was never big on fancy audio to begin with.

As a result, you get a very front-loaded mix that's almost all center channel. For the first half, that's all you need anyway, since it's all dialogue. In the second half, when we're in battle, things get a little flat. There isn't much dynamic range and next to no surround action at all. Things wake up in the battle scenes, but again, it's all front loaded and lacking punch on the high and low ends.

I suspect Kubrick recorded this movie in Mono, and a DD-Plus mix isn't going to make audio exist that wasn't recorded.

Score: 5 out of 10

Packaging and Extras

Good news, we have a trailer! The bad news is, that's all we have. I've read a 2-disc special edition is in the works, so you might want to wait for the double dip.

Score: 0 out of 10

Overall score: 6 out of 10

Rating	Description
out of 10	click here for ratings guide
8	The Movie Two movies in one, this classic Kubrick may not be his best, but it's certainly his most quotable.
7	The Video Problems with the skin tones bring down our score.
5	The Audio Weak source material leave engineers little to work with.
6	OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average)