Jarhead (DVD)

This highly underrated film will come to define the (first) Gulf War in a way that Apocalypse Now defined Vietnam. That is not to say that it can yet be elevated to that lofty status, but that it captures and evokes the time with brutal cynicism mixed with a taste for the surreal in a similar way to Copola's masterpiece. In many ways it also resembles Full Metal Jacket, beginning as it does in the training camp with the anonomous 'jarheads' being put through the paces by a tyrannical drill sergeant. Where it surpasses Kubrick's vision is its ability to translate the process of dehumanisation onto the battle field engagingly, albeit with a more contextual message.

Mendes's Jarheads are mere ordinance in a technological war. Trudging across the desert they encounter the burnt-out convoys hit by US laser-guided bombs, its victims anonymous, probably civillian. Their's is a modern war where the enemy is unclear, where the battle is won from the air, and their experience is defined by their never having shot their rifles. It deals with a generation of disenfranchised young men brought up to believe in American superiority but who never had to fight to achieve it. Many will leave unable to consider themselves a hero in a country obsessed by heroism, and some are left, finally, in despair at the seeming futility of it. Having been moulded into testosterone-fuelled, unthinking (hence 'Jarhead'), killing-machines, the war for many of them is one of boredom and frustration.

Where the film is really elevated is in its highly stylised vision of the desert, unrelentingly oppressive in stark, unflinching white. Its use of contemporaneous music is also clever, even if one character comments that they don't even have music to define their age in the same way that Vietnam did. Nirvana's 'Something in the Way' accompanies a terrifying dream sequence where Swofford goes to be sick in the mess hall sink, but unleashes a torrent of sand instead of vomit. Equally brilliant is the marines offloading their munitions into the sky to Public Enemy's 'Fight the Power' in an archly symbolic vision of end of the war celebrations. There are many entirely cinematic conceits such as Gyllenhaal's protagonist Anthony Swofford encountering a oil-covered horse in the mecadamised apocalypse of a sabotaged oilfield. This seemingly offers the bewildered Swofford an almost mythological dimension to his experience, but this is soon debased by a drunken party. Swofford often seems on the verge of some kind of epithany but is misguided by the sensless machismo of 'The Core'. This theme is best realised in the brutal irony of the scene where the marines are shown patriotically chanting to Apocalypse Now's famed Ride of the Valkaries helicopter assault, apparently unaware of its subversive connotations and highly seduced by the spectacle of American military might ('Shock and Awe').

There are better war movies than Jarhead, but there aren't many that are as entertaining. Sam Mendes' third feature - based on Anthony Swofford's account of his time as a sniper during the first Gulf War - is a joyride of a film: it largely portrays the ugly and brutal side of a soldier's life but is fascinating and often thrilling to watch. Its tone and anti-establishment sense of humour make it a nephew of groundbreaking military films of the 70s such as MASH and Catch-22 which had comedy at their core, rather than the serious and often bitter works such as Coming Home or The Deer Hunter.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Swoff, whose father and grandfather before him served their country, and who follows suit by joining up as soon as Iraq invades Kuwait in the middle of 1990. Swoff's unit - known as the Suck - contains the usual array of characters common to all military scenarios - the dorky one, the loud one, the Mexican etc, but more importantly the philosopher (Peter Sarsgaard) and the hard-as-nails Staff Sergeant (Jamie Foxx) who become Swoff's best friend and mentor respectively. Pranks and roughhouse jokes are the order of the day in the Suck - as soon as Swoff arrives he passes out when his comrades try to brand him with a red hot iron.

This is just the beginning of the fun. Swofford's narration is largely about the pointlessness of war and how men spend their time on the most trivial matters to pass the time. It also highlights the massive operation that was the first Gulf War - an incredible mobilization of troops that lasted months, for a war that was over before it had really started. And all the time Swoff puts up with the latest practical jokes while desperately wondering if his girlfriend has been faithful to him back at home.

The minutiae of military life provides a fascinating amount of detail which Mendes swoops on with glee, but it's at a deeper level that the film's flaws begin to emerge. Although it's entertaining to watch simply for the unlikely goings-on of this unit, its underlying message is harder to work out. Swofford - in a traditional and existential kind of way - realises that war is little more than a joke and that the only thing to do is laugh at it, but this comes across as too simplistic. As a result the audience may be left with something of a 'so what' factor


There are better war movies than Jarhead, but there aren't many that are as entertaining. Sam Mendes' third feature - based on Anthony Swofford's account of his time as a sniper during the first Gulf War - is a joyride of a film: it largely portrays the ugly and brutal side of a soldier's life but is fascinating and often thrilling to watch. Its tone and anti-establishment sense of humour make it a nephew of groundbreaking military films of the 70s such as MASH and Catch-22 which had comedy at their core, rather than the serious and often bitter works such as Coming Home or The Deer Hunter.

American audiences, well aware that the current conflict in Iraq shows no sign of stopping, may have found a lot of Jarhead too close to the bone for their liking, and any army cooperation during its making is unlikely. And although there is a sense of having seen much of it before in other films of the genre, it's still an accomplished feat and extremely well directed by Mendes, who looks to find the funniest or most outlandish heart of each scene before briskly moving on to the next.

An up front account of what the 1st gulf war was like for the majority of troops sent to oust Saddams army from Kuwait.
Based on former U.S Marine Anthony Swofford's autobiographical recounting of his term spent as a Scout Sniper between 1990-1991, Jarhead is as far from a Military recruiting drive as a mainstream war movie could be, you don’t get the constant guns blazing, fireball explosions so called warfare you'd expect from a typical war movie but instead a treatise on the role of the modern soldier.

Usually when you read the book it will be far better that the movie, but in this case it was just as good, many scenes were just as I had pictured in my mind whilst reading the book.
The acting (particularly from Jamie Foxx and Peter Sarsgaad) is amazing, the storyline moves along at a quick pace. Those who complained the film was boring are missing the point: the desert scenes are meant to seem boring.
The cinematography is stunning - the colours and presenting of scenery make the film worth seeing themselves.

Well worth getting, I served there at the same time as Anthony Swofford, and my experience was very very similar to his, what more can I say.

This is without a doubt one of the better war story that has come out over the past couple of years. It’s rough, tough and totally mean! This film goes beyond the call of duty to give the audience a surreal insight into camp life with soldiers. The acting in this film from Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx is without a doubt astonishing to watch! They are the characters on screen and its acted really well, Jake really makes this movie what it is. Mind you thinking about it there is hardly any action in this movie, no war to speak off. But what is present is a clear, ruthless, hard-hitting movie that delivers an experience I thought I wouldn’t like. This movie should be a definite must rent in my opinion just to see the acting alone. It is entertaining and quite sarcastically funny at times. Its a real delight to watch and its AGAIN a must rent! 4 out of 5 stars

Jarhead takes a perverse pleasure in confounding your expectations of what a war movie should be. For starters, there's not much actual, you know, war. Having joined the Marines more or less by accident, Jake Gyllenhaal's smart-aleck sniper spends most of his time hanging around in the desert dying of boredom, as the fighting stubbornly refuses to get started. A wonder to look at and expertly performed, it's nonetheless a difficult movie to like.

Kicking off with the usual brutal training sequence - mouthy sergeants, ritual humiliation, you know the routine - Jarhead quickly progresses to the Saudi Arabian desert, where Jake and his fellow squaddies stave off the hot, sandy tedium with illicit booze, football matches and war flicks. Desert Storm, when it finally arrives, is frustrating and incomprehensible, with soldiers plagued by faulty equipment and friendly fire long before they see the enemy. Some critics have attacked Jarhead because it refuses take any stance on America's intervention in the Gulf, but amoral despair is kind of the point; Jarhead looks into the desert and sees absurdity. It's like Waiting For Godot with a special effects budget.

"KUBRICKIAN CYNICISM"

But is it any good? Well, yeah, grudgingly. Gyllenhaal, a proper star, makes no attempt to be friends with the camera but remains fascinating anyway, and he's well supported by Peter Sarsgaard as his sniping chum and Jamie Foxx, finding a few gracenotes in a badly written role as a tough staff sergeant. The main problem is Sam Mendes' direction, which strains for Kubrickian cynicism but comes across as youthfully jaded.

If you're expecting an intense war film with guns, bombs and snipers, Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down might suit you better. You may well be disappointed to hear that the main characters never fire a shot at the enemy throughout the film. They do get close at one point, but, painfully, it never happens.

Instead, the film is based more around the training, and the life of a soldier in the Gulf War. The lack of fighting doesn't really let it down. In fact, it possibly improves it, letting the film focus on the other aspects of war. Thoroughly enjoyable, this film has great characters that play off each other well, and it will make you laugh on quite a few occasions.

A truly great film, this will possibly even become a classic in the future.

Jarhead is based on Anthony Swofford's autobiographical book about his stint in the marines. This is a good film, not brilliant, but good. There's no real point to the story. Swofford trains to be a marine, goes to war, doesnt actually get to do much, then comes home. But the fact that there is no point IS the point. You watch the film for the characters; the disenchanted youth that appear to make up the front line of America's defences and the hard baked officers that get to slap them into shape (both Foxx and Gyllenhaal are excellent). This is no glorification of combat though and the film shows the naked ugly side of war; not neccesarily the bullets and blood and guts but the pyscological impact it has on those that go to war. The impact of the endless waiting, the fear, the pointlessness. Plus it's quite funny. There is a lot of dry humour here.

Essentially this is a well made and watchable film, it's no classic, but it's good. And seeing it made me want to seek out the book and read it. Out of the two. Definately buy the book. In comparison, although its pretty good, the film's message is somewhat anaemic.

this film i had seen when it came out at the movies but didnt manage to watch it all there, but from what i seen of it, it was a good film and quite amusing.

It's, um, probably quite a GOOD film, in that it contains much though-provoking material, but I'm afraid that there isn't in it that much to actively like. Maybe this was deliberate. Possibly the sense of alienation that the 'Jarheads' feel towards the Kuwaiti environment they find themselves in is an intentional part of the plot, but it's still difficult for a viewer to determine the point of what's really going on. The film is definitely worth seeing - the burning oil fields, the rain of crude oil - there are some (for want of a better word) potentially iconographic scenes here, but watching it all isn't really emotionally involving at all.

I liked it a lot! Very funny at times but also has a serious slant that makes you think. If you liked Three Kings or Full Metal Jacket you will probably like this.

When I heard Jarhead was being filmed by Sam Mendes, one of my favourite directors, I decided to read the book it was based on. The novel, also called Jarhead, was brilliant and I couldn't wait to see how Mendes' film would turn out.
When the film came out, the reviews weren't bad, but they didn't seem to reccomend anything about the film either. Most reviewers seemed to focus on the fact that the film didn't directly imitate the novel and wasn't as good. But then when has the film ever been better than the novel?
Jarhead is tonally very different from the book, as the film seems to look for a more comedic side to war. Perhaps if the film had been made closer to the novel it would have been better. But Jarhead is still a masterpiece. It has no faults whatsoever: the acting (particularly from Jamie Foxx and Peter Sarsgaad) is amazing, the storyline moves along at a quick pace and the cinematogrophy is the best I have ever seen. Those who complained the film was boring are missing the point: the desert scenes are meant to seem boring. In my opinion, Mendes was just trying to convey how boring life was for the soldiers "fighting" in The Gulf War.
As some others have said, this is one film that will get better with age and will be regarded as a classic in years to come.

I recently saw an advert on tv for a new dvd jarhead that had just come out and being a frequent ebay user i thought id look to see if i could get a (what i thought) a genuine copy for cheaper than in the shops.

After just missing a copy go for around £5 that was sold using the auction style i noticed a buy it now for a £1 more including postage so i did, this meant it was half the price of the shops all i had to wait for was to recieve it, which wasnt a problem, paid with paypal straight away and recieved it within the next couple of days.

The transaction was fine and i recieved the item quickly, although i was expecting a genuine copy, this i did not recieve, it was a fake copy with a printed front cover.

This annoyed me a little but with the fear of recieving bad feedback for mentioning this just accepted it and gave good feedback.

Ebay, i believe need to find some way of overcoming this by either making sellers note this or by making them type in the bar code for example when the item is listed and maybe picking up if it is a copy or not.

Too many fake items are sold on ebay with buyers expecting genuine copies!

I've liked Sam Mendes previous films such as American Beauty so I had high expectations. The film is just an ok for me. I was expecting more from it, it was very slow paced. I understand it was probably similar to the war but as a film I lost concentration now and again it didn't quite grab me enough.

We had this film before on dvd but with time and too many viewings had to be replaced. This is an excellent film, one that I would highly recommend both for the action, story and of course the totally gorgeous Jake.

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I enjoyed this film very much. It was interesting to see how the main character grew from being singled out near the start of the film to one of the mature members of the group.

Awful film although didn't watch it through (only the first 10mins or so)
Absoulute rubbish - language was disgusting and no need for it.

If you ever served in Iraq you need to see this film. Great Film. True view of a war in a modern age where planes do the fighting not the grunts. A1 ******

A view into the lives of American soldiers going to war that isn't depicted in any other film. Well acted with some amazing scenery and tasteful comedy moments.

bought it because of the prices which i think are really good value for money.I have got alot of dvds off different sellers and only 1 or 2 havent worked, they have all been really good value for money.

i saw this movie on TV and i thought it was brilliant the way how everything was so real and believable, it made me feel happy that people like USMC and SAS troops are on the frontline fighting for whats right and giving normal people freedom and safety. I also liked how each soldier was portrayed especialy Jake Gyllenhall who played Swofford, his performance for this movie was outstanding and he is very consistent in the roles he plays in all the movies he acts in, especially Jarhead. The movie was great and i love watching it over and over again and always prepared for sheer entertainment.

it was alot darker than i expected. actors were very realistic and scenes looked real. jamie foxx was excellent. soundtrack was good too.

Sorry bought as present so havent seen yet myself. But have been told very good film.. However the actual DVD is is excellent shape so Im am very pleased with my purchase. Thks