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| Full Metal Jacket | 
 enlarge | Actors: Adam Baldwin, Bruce Boa, Tim Colceri, Vincent D'onofrio, Harry Davies
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $5.62
You Save: $9.36 (62%)
Buy New/Used from $5.06
Avg. Customer Rating:  (19 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1289
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 116 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 116311
UPC: 085391163114
EAN: 0085391163114
ASIN: B000P0J09C
Release Date: May 15, 2007
Theatrical Release Date: 1987
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The story of an 18-year-old marine recruit named Private Joker - from his carnage-and-machismo boot camp to his climactic involvement in the heavy fighting in Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:DRAMA UPC:085391163114 Manufacturer No:116311
Amazon.com
Stanley Kubrick's 1987, penultimate film seemed to a lot of people to be contrived and out of touch with the '80s vogue for such intensely realistic portrayals of the Vietnam War as Platoon and The Deer Hunter. Certainly, Kubrick gave audiences plenty of reason to wonder why he made the film at all: essentially a two-part drama that begins on a Parris Island boot camp for rookie Marines and abruptly switches to Vietnam (actually shot on sound stages and locations near London), Full Metal Jacket comes across as a series of self-contained chapters in a story whose logical and thematic development is oblique at best. Then again, much the same was said about Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a masterwork both enthralled with and satiric about the future's role in the unfinished business of human evolution. In a way, Full Metal Jacket is the wholly grim counterpart of 2001. While the latter is a truly 1960s film, both wide-eyed and wary, about the intertwining of progress and isolation (ending in our redemption, finally, by death), Full Metal Jacket is a cynical, Reagan-era view of the 1960s' hunger for experience and consciousness that fulfilled itself in violence. Lee Ermey made film history as the Marine drill instructor whose ritualized debasement of men in the name of tribal uniformity creates its darkest angel in a murderous half-wit (Vincent D'Onofrio). Matthew Modine gives a smart and savvy performance as Private Joker, the clowning, military journalist who yearns to get away from the propaganda machine and know firsthand the horrific revelation of the front line. In Full Metal Jacket, depravity and fulfillment go hand in hand, and it's no wonder Kubrick kept his steely distance from the material to make the point. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Another brutally honest depiction of Kubrick's vision... September 8, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I love me some Stanley Kubrick.
I just wanted to say that, because in all honesty I can't think of a single director who has ever worked that has come close to delivering what Kubrick has delivered to cinema. Film after film, moment after moment, emotion after emotion, Kubrick is flawless and his films are as complete and as unique to him as they come. No director has come close to delivering as consistently as Stanley Kubrick, and no director has a style as unique to himself as Kubrick (sure, many directors have their own style, but Kubrick's style is definitive and incomparable).
That said, `Full Metal Jacket' is one of those war movies that is separate from the pack in style and construction; a film that defines a genre. Sure, it may not be the best war movie out there, but it is one of the most unique.
The film is split in two, focusing its first efforts on a boot camp and then delving into the battle field for the second half. The films heart is built within the first few moments, while drill sergeant Hartman is scrutinizing and terrorizing the young men under his thumb. In particular there is Pvt. Pyle, a husky dim-witted young man who seems out of place in the military. Pyle tries hard but is unable to keep up with the other trainees, but after he is pushed to an extreme he manages to reel himself in and advance quickly. This advancement is not as jovial as it should be, as we can see Pyle is being overtaken by something much darker within the pit of his soul.
`Full Metal Jacket' brilliantly portrays the fact that not everyone is built for this life.
The second half of the film takes a group of these men to Vietnam, the focus being on Pvt. Joker who is now serving as a military journalist. He's soon thrust into battle as he leads a platoon into sniper territory. The final scene, involving a sniper hit and the rushing conflicts of humanity, is really what makes this movie as harrowing and effective as it truly is.
`Full Metal Jacket' brilliant portrays the fact that no one is really built for this life.
The acting here is monumental and extremely powerful, especially in the opening section of the film. The two key performances come from R. Lee Ermey, as the sadistic drill instructor, and Vincent D'Onofrio (academy away snubbee) as Pyle. Ermey has received cult status, for his performance is brutal and outlandish and definitely memorable; but to me this film belongs to D'Onofrio. His subtle emotional breakdown is flawlessly captured with just a shift in facial expressions. His character is one of the most moving and definitely one of the most effective in the bunch. Matthew Modine comes close to capturing the stripped humanity of the soul in his final scene, but D'Onofrio is unforgettable in his tragic turn as the odd man out.
I am new to the whole `war movie' bit, for it has never been a genre that interested me too much. I have always been more of a biopic, dramatic type of cinemaphile, but I have quite a few films in this genre on my agenda for the next few weeks. `Full Metal Jacket' is one of those eye-opening films, a movie that surpasses its genre thanks to some brilliant construction on the part of its director. Kubrick takes this film and creates something universally grounded. It is much more than a war film but more a study of humanity at its most strained and resistant. As the film draws to its conclusion we are faced with questions of a deeply rooted and personal nature that challenges us as human beings to decide just who we really and truly are.
 DISGUSTING MOVIE! June 30, 2008
1 out of 22 found this review helpful
I SERVED IN THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES. THIS MOVIE IS GARBAGE. IT IS FILLED WITH DISGUSTING PERVERTED SEXUAL JOKES. THERE IS NO COMBAT UNTIL 1 HOUR AND 15 MINUTES INTO THE MOVIE. THE COMBAT SCENES ARE EXCELLENT. BUT AS A WHOLE. THE MOVIE STINKS.
Full Metal Jacket June 26, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Awesome movie!! If you were ever in the Marines or trained as a Naval Officer under the Marines prior to the mid 80's, you will greatly appreciate the first half of this movie. Highly recommend it!!
 Kubrick Misses The Mark June 18, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
What a gyp! I had hoped Full Mental Jacket would challenge Apocalypse Now and Platoon for film supremacy as far as Vietnam War storytelling was concerned, but, in my opinion, it fell way short of its target.
Full Metal Jacket could easily have been named Full Mental Straight-Jacket for Private Pyle's (psyche collapse at the end of the first act). It demonstrates the mental breakdown of a new recruit, who was not too well put together in the first place; the systematic deconstruction of individual recruits in boot camp was a common design and practice by drill instructors on both coasts - MCRD in San Diego, CA and at Paris Island, NC. Lee Emery's depiction of Gunnery Sgt. Hartman was genuinely scary. I suppose his history as a real life drill instructor had alot to do with his character's authenticity and power. This was a casting coup for Kubrick, but that's where the genius ended. Every other character came off as unbelievable, paper thin, and one-dimensional. Pyle's schizophrenia can be seen as America's conscience and attitude about the war. On some level this worked, as America turned against itself during that time when the pressure got to be too much, not unlike Private Plye shooting Sgt. Hartman and then himself. The only surprise in the entire film. After Act I the film took a steep nose dive and never recovered before it crashed and burned somewhere near Hue City. Interestingly, all three of these Vietnam War movies are narrated by a protagonist, but Kubrick's Private Joker was the weakest character of the bunch. Compared to Lieutenant Willard (Martin Sheen) in Apocalypse Now and Private Taylor (Charlie Sheen) in Platoon, Matthew Modine's soulless depiction of a war correspondent was never within the whelm of belief or sympathy. Far from it. He was, for my part, unlikable from beginning to end. His only action of merit was when he busted a cap in the wounded VC sniper at the very end of the film. Finally a heroic, and merciful act, but even that can be up for debate. "Hard corps", oh yeah! Private Joker's only act of redemption, and Kubrick's, too.
Good movie on the Vietnam conflict, but somewhat over-praised June 6, 2008
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
Full Metal Jacket shook the world when it came out onto the big screens back in 1987. It was then supposed to be one of the best movies ever made on the Vietnam conflict. I was in my late teens when I went to watch it. If you're old enough to remember this era, it was right when America was putting a lot of focus and attention into exorcising its old nightmares of the south east jungle chaotic defeat. Full Metal Jacket was among the last of the movies based on this theme to reach the audience in the 80's.
I still remember having had mixed feelings about this movie: it was as close to a video report as was possible back then and, to some extent, it was quite new and unprecedented. The effect was that, both in terms of format and contents, it felt quite realistic and altogether encompassing. The story has the viewer involved in it, suffering along with the rookies before getting engaged on the battlefield.
The first half of the film is probably the most noteworthy for the quality of its depiction of the US military's brainwashing of its youth before fielding them as fresh meat to the hungry war beast. Beyond that first half, and although the actors' play is top notch and some fights are of almost mythical reach (I'm thinking about the NVA's female sniper scene for instance), the second half of the film -the one that takes place on the Hue battlelfield- is heavily impacted by a tough, "not-so-real" touch, ie, the movie was actually shot in a derelict part of London, with fake vegetation, palm trees and overall buildings. It's so blatantly obvious that it killed in me the bonding with the movie that I had felt right until then. It probably was for budgetary reasons that Kubrick opted for that movie location, but to this day, I still don't understand why he did not go for the Philippines, or Thailand for instance. With that "little" correction, the movie would certainly have ranked, in my opinion, among the Top3 best Vietnam conflict movies ever made along with Apocalypse Now [Region 2]and The Deer Hunter [Region 2]
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