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Jarhead
(2005)
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biopic / war
 (imdb rating: 7.3/10)
This is one of the best movies of the 2005
Plot: Based on former Marine Anthony Swofford's best-selling 2003 book about his pre-Desert Storm experiences in Saudi Arabia and about his experiences fighting in Kuwait.
The movie is good, it exposes everything that is wrong about the Gulf war(s), it's pretty sad and brutally real. You come away with this feeling of emptiness, so many lives wasted in a senseless war. The focus on the soldiers is not unlike Full Metal Jacket. Based on real life marine Anthony "Swoff" Swofford (Gyllenhaal). Ebert and Roeper kinda gave away some of the movie so they suck The ensemble cast is good, all the company/squad guys have good characterization (which is to say you can tell who's who, and it doesn't take too long). The leads Gyllenhaal, Sarsgaard and Foxx are solid, well cast. There's something strange about Troy's presence on screen (Sarsgaard), he seems to have this authority but all the kids in the group (Surveillance and Target Acquisition (STA) snipers) are around the same grade. The man has presence. Weird stuff, Sarsgaard dates Jake Gyllenhaal's older sister Maggie There are many memorable scenes, one I really liked was the one where Swoff takes it upon himself to give Troy back some fire after he found out he won't be able to re-enlist because of a criminal record, the whole USMC brand prank from the beginning of the movie takes a whole other dimension now that we know everything the guys have gone through Some of the scenes back home are vintage Mendes. It's the suburbia thing. As far as imagery, the soldiers in desert setting and around the burnt up oil fields are real fresh and kinda surreal, they do a great job in closing the movie.. actually a haunting last image of Swoff's experience Random, the movie shares the same period (Desert Shield in the early 90s) as the current book I'm reading, I Know This Much Is True There was a lot of hype thanks to Kanye West's "Jesus Walk" in the trailer, an instrumental version serves the end credits well, matter fact the closing of the movie is so well done, when those credits roll with "directed by Sam Mendes", that is a moment Quotes "Welcome to The Suck." "I love this job. I thank God for every fucking day he gives me in the corps, oorah." "Fuck politics. We're here. All the rest is bullshit." "Every war is different, every war is the same." "Whatever else he may do with his life-build a house, love a woman, change his son's diaper-he will always be a jarhead. And all the jarheads killing and dying, they will always be me. We are still in the desert." "You know what happens when you get there? Nothing. You just start all over again." "We are still in the desert" Book - Jarhead : A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles by Anthony Swofford 
Links - blog post 9/2/2005 - Trailer hype - blog post 2/27/2006 - Jarhead is good - http://www.togawp.com/movies/2006/02/jarhead_3_stars.html Last Updated 4/27/2006 2:36:13 AM 2hr 03min / Directed by Sam Mendes / Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Scott MacDonald, Lo Ming, Kevin Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx / Language: English / Watched: DVD Also by Sam Mendes - filmography (3 movies)
  Also starring Jake Gyllenhaal - filmography (9 movies) 
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