Movie Reviews
Before I can comment on �Jarhead,� I think it�s necessary to take a brief look back on the prior films of Sam Mendes, the director. This is only Mendes� third film, and already he has an extraordinary repertoire. Let�s not forget that his first film, �American Beauty� swept five major awards at the 1999 Oscars, including those coveted Best Picture and Best Director spots. Then in 2002, he graced us with the tumultuous and bitterly moving �Road to Perdition.� Both of those films impacted me on some level.
With the release of �Jarhead,� we can accurately conclude that Sam Mendes films are, by nature, Shakespearian. In the same way that Shakespeare could slyly and illogically make you laugh at a tragedy, Mendes wields humor out of potentially horrific events. It�s not cruelty, it�s Shakespearian. The results are unexplainable emotions that flood your body and cling for more than an hour or two after the film is over.
�Jarhead,� based on the 2003 memoirs of former U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford, meticulously pinpoints every last motivation of an American Marine during the 1991 Gulf War. From joining the corps, to training with a weapon, to a ritualistic branding induction that signifies you earning the right to be a marine, Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal in the film) and Mendes are unrelenting in their study.
I just got an issue of Entertainment Weekly in the mail that had an article centering on the use of politics in the movies. Personally (and this is old news of you faithful readers) I believe that Hollywood has shamelessly shoved left-wing agendas in our face for far too long. (You�ll see that this has actually been true for years, it just hasn�t fueled such controversy until recently.) And the problem is that it won�t stop. Yes, films like �Silver City� and �Fahrenheit 9/11� are unabashedly liberal. But it�s pretty sad when �Star Wars: Episode III� joins the trend.
So it is with resounding pleasure that I report that �Jarhead� is totally, completely void of any and all politics. The soldiers in the film hate politics; for all their flaws they can see the destruction of politics. Here, they witness that destruction first hand.
The fact that �Jarhead� is far from an action film is the very reason why it works in the first place. From square one, with Gyllenhaal narrating, we live the soldier life and follow it to the brink of Hell; the place that shows us devastating scenes like one where the men are in the middle of a drill during training. They crawl through the mud as it pours rain, and they try to stay under the barbed wire and live ammu-nition firing merely inches above their heads. Their sergeant (Jamie Foxx, in maybe his finest performance) screams to stay down, but one disobeys. It is right here that Mendes takes us away from what could have easily been another �Full Metal Jacket,� which is the biggest influence of the film aside from the book.
For the first ten minutes, we see the men lined up on either side of a long hallway as a drill sergeant screams unforgivable obscenities at them. And for that first ten minutes we begin to fear it�s similarity to Kubrick�s �Jacket.�
The next obvious thing to comment on is the cinematography. Roger Deakins, a perpetually talented cameraman, brings us some of the most devastatingly beautiful shots of this year. I was glad to see Mendes find a worthy successor to Conrad L. Hall, the man who would have been a regular collaborator with Mendes if he had not passed away just after accepting an Oscar for his work on �American Beauty� and just before winning again for �Road to Perdition.� Regardless, few films this year will be so praised for its photography.
I would hate myself if I didn�t post a warning. �Jarhead� is nearly an all-guy movie. The film swarms with disgusting male humor, and I would have been embarrassed to watch this with a female. Instead, let�s be thankful for the similarities between Stanley Kubrick and Sam Mendes. Both craft (or crafted) immaculate films in the way of technicalities. Both use (or used) vulgar extremes to make their point. And while Kubrick�s career ended in 1999, let�s also be thankful that Mendes' had just started. ****