Jarhead (2005)
16 January 1974, Long Island, New York, USA
8 August 1970, Camden, New Jersey, USA
November1965, Centralia, Washington, USA
9 July 1951, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
7 March 1971, Belleville, Illinois, USA
April 29, 2009
For some it's an anti-war message, for others it's just a non-biased portrait of a man who never went to war despite being in the military during war time.
September 24, 2007
As a depressive riff on Generation X's first war...it's exceptionally well-crafted.
December 06, 2005
Screenwriter William Broyles, Jr., a former Vietnam pilot and Newsweek editor, connects reasonably well with the material, but American Beauty director Sam Mendes has a tendency to smooth out the rough edges, and the film goes flat as month-old soda.
July 10, 2007
As time passes, waiting for orders becomes like waiting for Godot, an absurdist tragicomedy of frustration, madness and masculinity gone awry.
November 04, 2005
What's so good about the movie is Gyllenhaal's refusal to show off; he doesn't seem jealous of the camera's attention when it goes to others and is content, for long stretches, to serve simply as a prism though which other young men can be observed.
December 09, 2005
Jarhead is utterly predictable (boys endure tough training; boys encounter another culture and are baffled), studded with first-rate performances.
November 04, 2005
Director Sam Mendes' third screen outing pretty well nails Swofford's tone, which was mordant without being disrespectful, and, in fact, is begrudgingly reverent of the Corps.
November 07, 2005
This is a very strong film with really good performances.
January 15, 2008
Sporadically entertaining, and ultimately pointless -- although that seems to be its agenda right from the start.
February 09, 2006
The film's strong suit is vagueness, presenting combat as a semi-surreal state of ignorant expectation and dislocated experience: these warriors loll in the desert awaiting action or trying to make sense of its consequences.
July 14, 2007
What little statement the film makes revolves around the absurdity of these men, trained to shoot with ultimate precision, and never given the chance to fire off a round.
