Top 100 Movies: No. 73 - Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Posted on December 5, 2007
Filed Under Top 100 Movies | 4 Comments
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Full Metal Jacket gives you two movies in one! That’s right, this film artfully fuses two movies together to create one great flick, which has writer/director Stanley Kubrick’s fingerprints all over it.
The first half of the film focuses on newly recruited (or drafted) Marines as they endure basic training with an intense drill sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (masterfully portrayed by R. Lee Ermey). Hartman will do whatever it takes to turn these new recruits into killing machines. Unfortunately, with some help from the recruits themselves, Hartman goes too far with one soldier.
The second half of Full Metal Jacket takes place in Vietnam during the Tet offensive. It features scenes of urban warfare that are much different then those you will find in other Vietnam flicks. Kubrick’s ability to create an atmosphere of fear and tension as the soldiers attempt to locate a sniper among crumbling buildings is a highlight of the second half.
Bring these two halves together and you have a powerful movie that explores the effects of war on the human psyche.
So which half of the movie is my favorite? After much deliberation, I decided that the first half is my favorite. I’m not knocking the second half, but when I think of Full Metal Jacket, my mind immediately recalls the scenes from basic training. Which half is your favorite?
Tags: full metal jacket, list, r lee ermy, stanley kubrick, top 100 movies, vietnam, war
