Jarhead

At the beginning heavy-duty boredom that you’ve seen a hundred times in a hundred movies. But later Mendes starts to show us different, more interesting things. Gyllenhaal’s dream-like visions when he pukes up sand, burning oil wells (definite climax of the movie) and soldiers who would do anything to be able to shoot at a live target. Jarhead really is an extraordinary film. It shows the US Army in a different, and maybe finally perhaps a true light. By the way Newman’s soundtrack is just outstanding. (26/04/2007)

Visually, it was an extremely beautiful film, plot-wise it wasn't that great. While watching Jarhead, I was reminded of many other (and better) films, from Full Metal Jacket and How I Won the War to The Thin Red Line, The Hill and Black Hawk Down, and the story was again the classic confession of one green brain looking for battle. But fortunately it was also peppered with enough humor (which reminds me of the lack of "comedy" in these genres). However, the film is easily pushed above average by the technical processing. Director Mendes and cinematographer Deakins have a blast in the desert, you can almost feel the heat in the film, and from the oil wells being lit to the end, Jarhead is a feast for the eyes. One shot more breathtaking than the next. (16/12/2012)

Join up! Uncle Sam wants you! You’ll have a great time with us, get to do some shooting, kill some non-American bastards, protect your country and three meals a day... Or not? Boredom in the desert or Sam Mendes’ third attempt. And again it’s something completely different from his previous movies. This time he brings us a provocative and raw insight into the life of a young marine during the Gulf War. First he undergoes training and then, keen to fight, he is posted to a war where nothing happens and the action he was dreaming about never comes, and all he does is stand on watch amongst sand dunes, waiting and waiting... And waiting. The movie is more a patchwork of individual scenes (especially the one when the soldiers are watching Apocalypse Now I can’t shake out of my head, like many other scenes too), but despite that, or maybe because of that, the movie is really powerful. And we get good elephant doses of sarcasm and satire. In technical terms it is precise (that’s right, the camerawork is almost unreal; the scene with the horse in the middle of the burning oil fields is the peak of perfection), as is the soundtrack. Every one of the actors is great, as they tend to be in Mendes’ movies. Mendes’ directing is again flawless, inventive and seething with ideas. And Jake “Donnie Darko" Gyllenhaal is a chapter in himself, proving again that he is one of the biggest talents of contemporary transatlantic cinema. This picture of boredom in the middle of a modern military conflict and the impact it leaves on its protagonists is even more interesting and chilling because the movie manages to impart this feeling to the viewer too. (20/02/2006)

An entertaining and, in its own way, very cool account of war without chilling battle scenes? Yes! Sam Mendes is at the top of his game, creating the dense atmosphere of the desert in an original way and, without sentimentality or emotional swings, documenting the depression of the Marines who experience life’s losses instead of fulfilling their American boyish dreams. Jarhead is a remarkably laid-back film about uncomfortable issues. (14/01/2006)

To shoot a film that captures a war fought with remotely controlled missiles and aircraft from the perspective of a soldier who experiences it in a closed community in the middle of an inhospitable desert without the presence of women is very bold and above all challenging. The film lacks action, the risk of danger, and emotions fueled by fear, desperation, hatred, and pain. However, Sam Mendes took the risk and made a film that fairly accurately captures the endless waiting for orders and deployment, so that viewers tuned to the right wavelength would not be disappointed and would have a decent cinematic experience. Mendes is one of the most talented contemporary directors, but it is necessary to emphasize that his work is also characterized by caution, playing it safe, and working through unquestionable creativity primarily with established conventions. It is simply not a new One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which clearly criticized the system and undermined it with new ideas and a different perspective. When Forman was filming Hair at the time, he faced the unwillingness of the American army and criticism for lack of patriotism and anti-American attitudes. Jarhead could easily have been given a million or two from the Pentagon from its budget because, in my opinion, it contains similarly subtly dosed hidden propaganda of "American values" to what is criticized in Michalkov's film, when he mixed admiration for enlightened authoritarianism into his remake of 12. In terms of filmmaking, there is not much to criticize about Mendes. Fans of dynamic action will naturally be disappointed by Jarhead, but for me, it's a solid overall impression of 75%. (05/03/2011)