4/4  Not a Major Malfunction!!
Throughout his life, director Stanley Kubrick made films that got people talking, both pro and con. FULL METAL JACKET is one such example. Though far less emotional and much more analytical than any film about the Vietnam war, this film is... (read full)

4/4  Duality of Man -- A Great War/Human Film
I expected this movie to be great because Stanley Kubrick never fails to impress me, but I’ve read a lot of critiques that claim that this is one of Kubrick’s weaker pictures so I was anticipating for the film to slip eventually. Thankfull... (read full)

4/4  Epic war masterpiece
The is one of the best accounts of the uglyness of war in all its forms. From the brilliant portrayal of the sadistic drill sergeant by
R. Lee Ermey to the equally brillirant protrayal of the washout cadet by Vincent D'Onofrio it i... (read full)

4/4  Full Metal Jacket Quick Review
You don't have to be a "War Movie" buff to enjoy this one. I love this movie for everything that it brings to the table. The best war movie ever in my book! Don't miss it.

3.5/4  Full Metal Jacket Quick Review
Kubrick's last real masterpiece, offers one of the grittiest all around insights into the hell of war. Recommended.

4/4  Full Metal Jacket Quick Review
The first half of this movie is perfect! There has never been a better insight into boot camp, and the cinematography adds to the drama. The second half of the movie is also very good, but it is so hard to compare to the first.

4/4  Full Metal Jacket Quick Review
This is a film that grabs you and never lets go. From the brutal boot camp, to the hell that is Vietnam - Kubrick doesn't pull any punches in his depiction of the war. Powerful and mesmerizing - a film not readily forgotten.

5/5 Most realistic war movie of all time
  by Cute Chihuahua (Orient, OH USA)
This is my favorite war movie of all time. It feels more like a documentary than a movie. Their depiction of boot camp is as brutal I expect it was 20 years ago. The war scenes are so realistic you will be ducking to dodge the bullets. This entire movie is interesting not a bad part in it. For those of you with little ones at home I warn you this movie has a ton of very foul language in it so you might to watch it after the kids go to sleep.

5/5 Dehumanizing effect of the military
  by J Grisham (Oklahoma, USA)

This movie deserves a 5 star for the first half showing the dehumanizing effect of the marine boot camp and how it turns peaceful civilian recruits into angry, killing machines. All traits that are scoffed at in civilian life including gratuitous violence, rampant sexism, mindless conformity and mean aggressiveness are rewarded during one's stint in boot camp and training. The second half of the movie dealing with the depiction of the war has been previously seen in several other movies, but the boot camp depiction is dead-on. As some other reviewer has mentioned, the actual boot camp is tougher with possible more instances of physical abuse by DIs. This movie forces one to ask what effect army training has on a recruit and how different military attitude is compared to civilian life. It is an oft-quoted cliche that military training "builds character" - it really depends on how one defines character. If dormant rage, hatred for difference (and people different than the norm) and herd mentality are hallmarks of character then yes. However if independent, innovative thought, gentleness and tolerance are how one defines character, then no military training is not the solution. It has taken several years for some fellow army buddies to discard the rage and aggression and return back to civilian life. If you want a good view of what military thought and training are like, watch this movie.

3/5 War Movies
  by W. S. Mohn (Traphill, NC USA)
A good war movie, but for me not the classic some portray it as being.

1/5 Widescreen is cropped version of Full Screen version
  by Dave
I bought the Blu-ray version of Full Metal Jacket thinking this would be a true widescreen version, but it's not. The movie is actually a cropped version of the Full Screen version. After comparing the two versions, the Blu-ray version seems cramped and lacks the visual composition of the original Full Screen version.

This rating has nothing to do with the quality of the story or the audio, which is excellent.

The rating has everything to do with releasing this movie as a Widescreen version of the movie. If you want to see what you are missing, buy the original DVD version instead.

5/5 Reality of War is Painful - This Movie Brings it Home
  by Allen H. West (Shelby Township, MI USA)
This is a movie that I've viewed repeatedly over the years and still enjoy very much as it is strikingly genuine versus most Hollywood presentations of War. Having been drafted myself in 1969 and took an extra year to determine my vocational choice versus being dictated. Military was very different as there was no volunteer system yet - you found yourself serving next to teachers and engineers and other professionals because of the draft. The presentation of Boot Camp is so real in this movie and the Dufus that commits murder/suicide - there is one of these guys in every company that gets pushed and pushed and during war where you're losing hundreds weekly it's the DI's job to get them through not send them home.

I often found Platoon and Apocalypse nice to look at but found them insulting to GI's and unreal. The portrayal of Boot Camp and it's push to remove individualism at all costs for the TEAM was very real and the discipline enforced by the group in it's partnering in said discipline with blanket parties is genuine. Somebody screws up invariably and the group pays a price and the group then becomes the enforcer of TEAM.

The presentation of Vietnam experience matches pretty much exactly what everyone shared and also quite often a number of troops were killed due to simple mistakes - Charlie was a master of guerilla warfare and the war was a roaming battle zone that often had no boundaries. Vietnam had plenty of cheap sex, booze, smoke but younger people may never understand how great the casualty count was on both sides - we lost over 53,000 but the Vietnamese lost over a million. War is Hell and no real glory. This movie depicts it far better than any I've seen.

Part ONE the making of a Marine and Part TWO the reality of being (slogans don't mean jack when your in an ambush) - there's no a video game do over. While most of us that survived are now old farts, this movie brings home one's youth of the day and how overnight you can become the property of the US Govt and Holy Crap why am I in this friggin foreign land fighting for this hunk of dirt, swamp - we used to talk of what the hell would we win even if we could claim victory? A place to sell more coke and consumer goods?

Now, today I find myself buying goods like Canon Printers and a Jacket from a luxury store and candles from Target and they have imprinted Made in Vietnam on them. So we won without having to fight - money talks better than bullets!

For a reminder of what it's about especially when a draft is in place during national emergencies view this flick - God Bless our Troops in Iraq and may they leave that dust bowl (with OIL below) sooner than later and today I would ask the same damn question - If we could declare a Victory what the hell have we one? Nothing!!! The futility of War and the pawns of the soldiers that serve us and die for Jack too far often! I despise the waste of any Soldier! (Human Being) Enjoy the Movie for the reality it depicts despite the passing of time!