Full Metal Jacket (DVD)

I really did not want to watch this film as I managed to watch the beginning of it many years ago now and did get quite upset by it as at the start of the film we have new recruits going through basic training for the US Marines and as my brother was going through his Army training at the time I just had to turn it off. Over the years I have been given the opportunity of watching it but have always refused. Last week I promised hubby that I would ...
...it gets so much better after the training. I can now honestly say that I am glad I did watch it as he was so right and it does get so much better.

As I said before this film is following the new recruits who have joined the US Marine’s at the time of the Vietnam war. We meet several of the recruits but Pile and Joker are the two main characters. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman is the man who is putting them through their paces and we see ... more

I really did not want to watch this film as I managed to watch the beginning of it many years ago now and did get quite upset by it as at the start of the film we have new recruits going through basic training for the US Marines and as my brother was going through his Army training at the time I just had to turn it off. Over the years I have been given the opportunity of watching it but have always refused. Last week I promised hubby that I would actually sit and watch the whole thing as he says it gets so much better after the training. I can now honestly say that I am glad I did watch it as he was so right and it does get so much better.

As I said before this film is following the new recruits who have joined the US Marine’s at the time of the Vietnam war. We meet several of the recruits but Pile and Joker are the two main characters. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman is the man who is putting them through their paces and we see the relationship which form through him. Pile is not a liked recruit as he keeps messing up and the others are punished for it. Joker tries to help Pile but things go wrong when Pile flips and shoots Hartman and then himself.

We are then treated the news that all the recruits have passed their training and they are given their new positions in the Marines. We then follow Joker who is working as a Marine reporter and how he has to go around reporting on the effect the war is having on the Marines. Jokes is happy when he is reunited with on old friend, Cowboy but things then take a turn for the worse for Cowboy and his group of soldiers.

Just how many lives will be lost in this war and how will Joker find reporting on such tragedies?

I made the mistake at the start of this film by thinking that we were following the life of Private Pile when in fact we were following Joker. This does become apparent after Pile shoots himself, but having never seen past this part I was not aware of this. I found the storyline to be very moving and tough at the start but as hubby said to me these men were going out to face a war and they had to be toughened up to survive. I was pleased when the training was over and the story moved away to the actual war as I did not find this quite so hard viewing and there was no bullying involved.

I thought that all of the actors in the film were exceptional in their roles and I did enjoy the role of Private Pile and thought he did an amazing job portraying a bullied recruit and how he went crazy and love firing his gun. Joker was also an exceptional character and I loved how he tried to take Pile under his wing and help him. He was a nice genuine person who did actually have a heart. He did bring some humour to the film and I particularly enjoyed the fact that he had ‘Born to Kill’ on him helmet but wore a badge displaying the peace sign on his chest!

All of the supporting actors were too very good and brought a lot to the film and made the story seem a little deeper as we got to know a bit more about each of them. I think this helped a great deal with the story and keeping me involved in it.

The beginning of the film was actually shot in England on an Army camp down in Cambridgeshire and I did quite easily notice this as the road markings and sign were not changed or altered in any way. I think to have made this slightly more authentic they could have paid a little more attention to these little details. Say that though it was still very watch able. The rest of the film was shot on location showing us the war in Vietnam. I found the scenery and sets to be very authentic and they all looked great and not out of place.

The effects in the film were good and made for some good viewing during the war scenes. I found that a lot of time and effort were put into these and the creators of them deserve a lot of credit. Some of the wounds which the soldiers got during battle looked so real that they actually made me feel slightly sick! The music thought out the film was good and very appropriate for the places in which it was used.

The DVD which we have does have some bonus features which includes:-

Commentary by Adam Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio, R lee Ermey and Critic/Screenwriter Jay Cocks
New Featurettes ‘Full metal Jacket: Between Good and Evil’
Theatrical trailer

I am not a fan of bonus material so I have not taken the time to watch these so I am unable to comment on them. The running time of this film is 112 minutes and I found I was not loosing interest of getting bored at any point in the film. The certificate in this film is a 15 and I do agree with this as there is strong language, sex references and bloody battle violence.

We bough this DVD from Tesco for just £4 which I felt was a bargain and I am going to recommend this as it is a good war film and touches on the friendships made during these bad times and how the men cope under pressure.

 

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