I read the book and thought that a movie about Desert Shield/Desert Storm would be interesting. The special effects and photography were great. especially the scenes of the famous destroyed cars and busses of the poor folks who attempted to flee Kuwait and the burning oil wells. The war and the locale is probably pictured accurately but the Marine unit personnel portrayed in the movie didn't act like any of the soldiers, Marines, and sailors I had the privilege to serve with for 22 years. The guys in the movie were a bunch of Hollywood sterotyped animals. They constantly fought among themselves and seemed to have IQ's that seldom exceeded 80. The "why am I here?" theme for the "hero" of this wasted evolution goes on and on ad nauseum. It was difficult to have any degree of pride for this collection of disorganized misfits and if this is the Marine Corps of the 1990's and beyond God save us. If you want to see soldiers, officers, and Sargeants as they actually are, please watch WE WERE SOLDIERS.

I agree with most of the other "one star" "been there" reviews. This movie is almost pure hype ... in its lowest form. I recently purchased this DVD on sale for $5 locally just to see what it had to show. It starts out in similar vein to "Biloxi Blues," but quickly looses itself in the surreal and the outright dishonest. I ended the drudge quickly by fast forwarding to the return home scenes of predictable disappointment and despair. It is what it is - a work of mediocre fiction, not worth $5 in the Wal-Mart discount bin. I am not an ex-Marine, but I met many and shipped with hundreds, (post Desert Storm, albeit), even spent time in a desert tent city, and never witnessed behavior even close to what's portrayed in this film.

Tried to watch it one more time, but stopped it after a few minutes, cut it up, and threw it in the garbage. Probably one of the worst movies ever made.

Tough reality at boot camp. learn respect the hard way. Great build up with out final delivery.

To Understand It, It Helps To Be A Marine. To Relate, You Need To Be A Grunt.

I am a military fanatic I am all for our troops I love all movies that suggest military anything. This movie was a great movie some might think its slow though and not a great story line but it was a good "blowin **** up" movie :)

An outstanding look at the training of, and the life of a Marine.
I would say that the story line is quite factual, and that the
scenario is quite realistic..... including political intervention into
a combat situation. I have told a Marine buddy about the movie and
he will be viewing it soon. I fully expect him to agree with my
assesment. Semper Fi.

The production team had a great idea with this film, but in the end they didn't quite succeed. In my view, the goal of this film was to create a war film that lies somewhere in between the antiwar documdramas like `Born on the 4th of July' and the gung-ho type stories such as `Saving Private Ryan' or even earlier war movies (like John Wayne films). The image of military service and the reality are two very different things. Some find that they take to the military life quite easily, but for others, it is tedious and unfulfilling. It is this last aspect of military service that is presented in this film. We follow the main character through basic training, through scout sniper school and into the desert as part of Operation Desert Shield after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Several mind numbing months later, they are ready to go to war, march into Kuwait, and the war is over before it started without anyone having fired a single shot in anger. Everyone is left with the feeling that their perseverance was, in the end, a complete waste of time and energy.

This movie is obviously based on the book by the same name. I've never read the book, but I've been told that there are important differences. The drill sergeant at the beginning of the film who physically abuses the recruits is subsequently discharged. This important detail is left out of the film and really changes the impression. The whole basic training scene is poorly (and unfairly) done in my opinion. Doesn't hold a candle to R. Lee Ermey's performance in `Full Metal Jacket', and in any case, they should have balanced it out somewhat by showing the transformation in the Marines after the Crucible. One thing emphasized in the book that isn't as fully developed in the film (but really is the key point) is the notion that many (although not all) young Marines want to leave the service as quickly as possible. Some enjoy their military service, but for many (most?), it is really a mind numbing duty that they want to put behind them as quickly as possible. I think this is particularly true for someone with a reasonably active intellect. That being said that, I wonder if Swofford (the author of the book and main character in the movie) actually regrets enlisting? I wonder if he asks himself how he would feel today if he didn't enlist?

In the end, I think that the idea of creating a nuanced film that described the mind numbing boredom of much of military service was a good idea, but this film really didn't deliver the goods. Throughout history, young men have been making foolish, ill informed decisions. Military service is clearly vital to our national interest. Many will go into the military and have a good experience, many won't have a good experience. That's pretty much like everything in life. There are no guarantees. Some will die pointlessly, others gallantly in the `Good War`, whatever that is. There is a certain pride, however, in being able to say you stuck it out, didn't quit, and that nobody can take that away from you. It is this last point that Jarhead totally misses in my view.

One last note, there is almost no `action' in this film, so if you are looking for a shoot-em' up type of film, you'll have no interest in this.

I ordered this for my son & I watched it the other day & I won't go into long details seeing there are plenty already,there are a few pretty funny bit's & some naked Butt shot's which was ok by me,but I must say it wasn't what I expected it to be,if U can get it for a buck or less it might be good just for a few laughs as long as U don't mind hearing the word Masturbation about 50 times..

I'm not surprised by the many bad ratings at Amazon garnished by "Jarhead" and feel that a lot of bad ratings are a good indicator whether a movie should be viewed. Unfortunately, I might have watched the movie even if I had read reviews. When the book came out, so many years ago, admittedly, I was curious about some of the military operations and viewpoints that it might hold. There was not a lot of literary material concerning Desert Storm at that time. However, I disdained reading because there were many other highly noted military authors that deserved more attention.

The movie "Jarhead" provided viewpoints that were more to my dismay than enlightening, and descriptions of military operations are slim to nonexistent. The story follows a format similar to "Full Metal Jacket," "Hamburger Hill" and "Platoon," delving into the social setting of young men in the military environment, and dramatizing the experiences from the viewpoint of a central character. A portion of the film portrays war events using surrealistic scenes and dialog similar to "Apocalypse Now."

The movie opens up with boot camp (basic training) scenes that seem to emulate the movie "Full Metal Jacket" with little of the sadistic humor or intensity. Though yelling and derision of trainees by Drill Instructors is standard military enlistee indoctrination by the Corps, "Jarhead" does not bring to light any significant realism or dramatic originality. As the movie progresses, further indoctrination occurs between the central character, Swofford, and his fellow marine soldiers, culminating in relationships and character development that do little to elevate the circumstances they encounter as soldiers. The circumstances often involve nothing more than over-dramatization of Marines acting like young fools, the moments in our own life that we might look back sheepishly upon.

I suppose that making young Marine snipers look a little wild and mentally off is supposed to be stirring, or add to the seduction of elite soldier status. However, the film does nothing to provide a more realistic portrayal of disciplined and talented group of young snipers, then does the film "Sniper" starring Tom Berenger as the finely-honed, experienced killing machine. In fact, whether accurate or not, the soldiers appear to be like any other young "grunt" far from home and just wanting some action.

A noteworthy character, the Sniper "Gunny" Sergeant, carries-on in a rapid, martinet style, criticizing and bemusing his subordinates, more like the Drill Instructor charade than the behavior of a any remotely intelligent unit leader or training instructor attempting to build and organize an effective platoon of soldiers. As a member of infantry and intelligence units in the Army for several years, I've never met a unit leader that used a style like this. To any soldier other than a raw recruit encountering a Drill Instructor, you would be viewed as an idiot. After the initial shock treatment, even the D.I.'s start dropping the psycho-Sergeant approach.

The movie tries to elevate interest a notch by zooming in on Swofford's bare buttocks as he is dancing with a self-made jock strap amid his partying buddies at a tent-held, New Year's celebration, vaguely reminiscent of the "Platoon" GI dope party. Combine aversive moments like this, to include frequent mentioning of masturbation, toilet conversations, and the like, with characters and dialogue that are generally annoying, I was considering abandoning the film less than mid length. By the time I encountered the surreally presented combat scenes and events, disgust with the movie impeded full enjoyment of the films cinematic value.

There are several other films, set amid more recent wars, that I have already mentioned, and feel are better than "Jarhead." "Black Hawk Down" and "Three Kings" also come quickly to mind. Its hard to make a suggestion as to who might really enjoy the film since it tries to captivate something for each; action and war drama, poetic or raw-shock drama, youth-humor and rebellion amid the highly autocratic, military environment. The movie is not strong in any specific category. For those seeking a compelling re-enactment of tightly woven events encountered by an elite soldier during Desert Storm, I would avoid this movie, without hesitation.

It is clear from other reviews that this film failed the 'reality' test. According to many, the life depicted in the film does not resemble what is called reality. Curiously, reality is the criterion used to judge this film but not, say, 'Star War' or for that matter about 99% of Hollywood films. Like the director, I have no experience whatsoever of war, but I have a lifetime of film-going under my belt. As a film about film-making and not about war, this movie works. It is often visually stunning. There are numerous strikingly beautiful, stunningly horrid scenes that belong to the art of film and to nothing else. In this regard, it does obviously seek to echo Coppola's masterpiece on Vietnam, which, one should remember, was dismissed by the critics. The acting is quite good. Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Fox are both very strong here. There are some great scenes, although one might very well say that as a whole it doesn't excite. The story arc lacks dramatic momentum. It is episodic. The central plot of a soldier trained to do something that never happens is a problem; this is a kind of existential moment that is hard to dramatize. Waiting is difficult to bring over, yet we know that waiting is one of the crucial elements of what makes war so dreadful. If anything about the picture is real, this would be it, yet this is why the question of whether it is 'real' strikes me as irrelevant. Often to tell a good story one must let the 'real' go in favor of drama. In life, we often suffer from the fact that nothing happens, which is called boredom; in film, boredom is to be avoided at all costs. This is not an entirely successful movie, but it tries hard.

This war film contains precious little action. It's anti-war in the sense that the main character never gets to fire a shot (as Gulf War I is over so quickly) and so is left frustrated - and the viewer is left with this feeling too. We certainly get to experience the boredom and tension that came with the six months preparation for the war. Well made and well acted but not that entertaining.

Reminds me of what I go through on a day to day basis as a Marine, great movie. Recommend if you're a fellow Marine trying to explain what a life of a Marine is, just pop this movie in and watch it.

I saw this movie in theatres,and had a great time.Since I live in a small military town,I was completely surrounded by marines thus making my movie watching that much more enjoyable.I thought the acting was great,and the fact that they didn't get to shoot anything or anyone was brilliant absolutely brilliant in my opinion.When i saw Saving Private Ryan,that to me,that was what real war was like,but every war is different.The fact that something like this really did happen gets me.I am so glad I'm not a male.

Hate the war but love the soldier...or at least try to understand how good men can willingly be turned into killers who will shoot whatever they are told to.
Jarhead seems to move back and forth between pointing out how the military is designed to create mindless, order-following killing machines, and then examining soldiers' frustration at not killing anyone. The scene with them cheering the battle scenes in Apocalypse Now is ironic in the extreme.
The narrative moves well, even during the war-is-hellish-boredom parts. What lifts this film to a higher level are Gyllenhall's excellent performance (along with Foxx and most everyone else) and the stunning cinematography of the second half.
The flaming oil fields and their resultant chaos are grippingly weird, making a strong but silent point about why we send our kids to die halfway around the world for the benefit of rich old men who don't give a damn about them. This film succeeds when it lets you get inside the heads of certain characters who have stopped thinking but can't stop feeling; it rarely judges the soldiers, instead showing their humanity and confusion when turned into automatons.
My father was in the military, and he made me promise never to enlist, saying, "Their goal was to make me stop thinking completely. If we thought about it, why would we want to kill fathers and brothers and sons who are just like us, but born somewhere else?"
Thus the term "jarhead"; the jar is emptied of Christian compassion for every one of God's children, and refilled with bloodlust.
This is a much more subtle film in many ways, despite its graphic nature, than most reviewers here want to accept. The scene with the horse is absolutely perfect, saying so much with a simple, heart-breaking picture.
Life isn't always "you're with us or against us"; sometimes it's "you're with us until we don't need you any more." Jarhead does a good job of making that and many other points.

This movie doesnt even closely resemble reality in the Marine Corps. It brings dishonor to his service as a MARINE.

Halfway through the DVD it started to stop and start throughout the second half. I will not buy anything else from Amazon.

This movie describes the war in Iraq, how the Marines behave and the problems they face. However it is a bit slow and sometimes tedious.

Well, Lt.Col North didn't actually use the word 'sucks.' But he said it was a waste of his money, and he extorted his listeners to save 2 hours of their life. He actually had hoped it would portray Marines in a good light, but said he found nothing redeeming about this movie.

Anthony "Swoff" Swofford served in Gulf War One, and then came home to write about it. His gripping book, "Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles," was quickly optioned to be a movie. Where the book captures the fleeting explosions of adrenaline that briefly hits you between countless days of tedium, the film version really loads up the tedium.

Really, this uninspiring true-life take on being a soldier may be the most honest take on war ever filmed. There are no heroics. No moments of raging brilliance to stop an enemy. Just hot sweaty men in a desert, scared as hell and maybe bored beyond it. What that translates to is tedious viewing. War is the long stretches of nothing between battles, and these long stretches form the majority of "Jarhead." If you're looking for "Saving Private Ryan," "Platoon" or even "The Boys of Company C," you're not getting any of that here. "Swoff" spends his entire stay in Desert Shield to Desert Storm wondering when he will finally get the chance to use his elite sniper training to make his first kill. The kill that never comes.

"Jarhead" comes closest to mimicking the superior "Full Metal Jacket" in that the drollness of Swofford matches Private Joker in Kubrick's film. But "Jarhead" has no payoff. Theirs is a place where no point of view ever happens...what politics there are in the movie will come strictly from your own point of view. The film itself is visually stunning, I doubt if the scene where oil rains down on Swoff's unit in the night, the desert lit only from flaming oil wells will easily be forgotten, or the horrific "highways of death" recreation. (Google that reference for the background.) Jake Gyllenhaal gives an eerie performance, the emotions bubbling under his facade. (Almost as good as his turn in "Brokeback Mountain.")

But again, I return to the movie's pace and subject matter. It really is too slow and random to be truly entertaining, and yet its lack of any real point of view makes it hard to really dig into the charachters here. Just like Swofford, you spend the duration of "Jarhead" waiting for the time when you finally see some action. The "I am always going to be a Jarhead" ending makes you wish for a deeper explanation as to why.

What can you say about a movie that has so many fine ingredients? This is all the hallmarks of a great movie - great director, terrific acting, epic cinematography, relevant message. And yet without a real narrative to hang on, this is a movie about the atmosphere - in particular, the cumulative effect of atmosphere. It will depend on the viewer if that atmosphere is enough to sustain interest.
Jake Gyllenhaal is terrifically convincing as the naïve young `average young man' who joins up instead of going to college. His journey is the lynchpin of the movie, and he makes it work. He starts off in the usual drill sergeant shouting at recruits type scenes, and finally gets to the Gulf. There, the movie is about the waiting. The boredom and frustration of being built up to act, and then sit on their heels unable to act.. Problem is, in convincingly conveying the boredom and frustration of the men, the viewer is equally bored and frustrated. The war starts, and yet the frustration is never truly released for the group of marines, and in the final scenes the end is somewhat bleak to say the least. The cream of the most macho soldiers are made to look impotent.
This is a timely look at what some of the pressures must have been like - there are probably also parallels to be made with today's conflict, even though the situation is quite different. As the lead says towards the end - Every war is different - and every war is the same.
So is this enough to spend your two hours on the couch..? The answer is probably only just - there was more that could have been made of these memoirs. But accepting its flaws, its probably still interesting enough to get through - just not if you are an action junkie!

I wish I had watched it before I bought it. In that it is fairly realistic so I'm told by guys who were there it dull and boring and mostly pointless. If you are looking for action go some where else.

While not a Marine veteran, I am a Gulf War veteran. And I found very little redeeming about this movie. There are only two elements of this film that were worth bringing to an international audience.

1) The "Dear John" letter board. For whatever reason, especially confusing given the shortness of this war, there seemed to be a disproportionate number of breakups and divorces among Desert Storm participants. Perhaps it just seemed that way from the inside, or because suddenly women were everywhere in a combat-zone for the first-time making it easier for soldiers to cheat (not a knock against female soldiers) or because without a draft there were so many eligible young men still left back in the states to cause trouble there. Whatever the reason, even this important statement in Jarhead was as poorly underdone as a Herfy goat burger (inside joke).

2) The other important element shown in this film was the frustration of waiting. Sitting in the desert and keyed up for 5 months with no proper outlet or release. Again, they missed their cue there. I do not believe for a second that a Marine NCO would allow his recon unit on the edge of a battlefield to behave in such an undisciplined and coarse manner. Especially in front of civilians and worse, reporters. This stinks a little bit to much of the early stages of Heartbreak Ridge before the Gunny shows up.

The main character/author is nothing short of a crybaby wimp. His is not a personality that can be suppressed throughout Boot Camp, AIT, and TIS. He should have never been in a warzone because he should never have been allowed to be a Marine. The closest this guy should have gotten to the military is by working for the Air Force MWR (another inside joke).

I see this movie as an insult to the Corps and the military at large. Its timing was very suspect. Its time of filming and release was during the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom, a war that is depicted by liberal Hollywood and the media as being very unpopular. Touted and sold as a patriotic celebration of our military, its really just another example of how the left "supports our troops" but cutting their feet out from under them.

Only Hollyweird could find a reason to award this steaming pile. Unrealistic cinematography. No redeeming entertainment value.

This is a pretty good movie, it makes me not want to join the army, espcially the way they were treaed. it's a pretty good movie. thats all i can say.

This movie falls on my list of unusual war films like "Apocalypse Now" and "The Thin Red Line". I enjoyed both of those films, and I think it's safe to say that if you enjoyed both of those "Jarhead" is worth checking out.

Visually this film is astounding. The cinematography captures beautiful desert vistas, the horror of burning oil fields and black rain, and the endless flow of time. Costumes, special effects and sound effects are also top notch, putting you in the period and in war itself. I also enjoyed the music selections from the early 90's. Not only did they fit the scenes, but they brought me back to those years. The score was also noteworthy creating a kind of dreamlike ambient mood (much like the score from "The Thin Red Line")

The acting was excellent all around. Jake Gyllenhaal has a difficult part, creating a soldier who has been trained to kill, and is not allowed to do his job. Gyllenhaal lets his anger seethe, and boil under the surface. We can almost taste his frustration, and feel bad for him. At the same time he's a frightening figure; his intense need to kill almost coming across as psychotic. Peter Sarsgaard is always good, bringing more depth to parts that seem to be surface only. He gives Troy added dimensions. His confrontation with the Major at the end of the film is expected and yet explosive at the same time. Jamie Foxx turns in a good performance. His part is by the book, but his charisma and skill make it memorable. The supporting cast measures up just as well; but in the end this is Gyllenhaal's movie.

The script and direction are what will make or break this movie for viewers. If you go in expecting a traditional war film, with plenty of action and heroics, you'll end up disappointed. This movie takes a very personal view of a unique aspect of modern war. It's a character study more than a war film. It is more thematic than plot centric. The theme is about frustration and boredom. It takes guts to make a film about these topics, and Sam Mendes does the best he can. In the end "Jarhead" is an excellent film, but not an enjoyable one. It takes the right frame of mind to get into it and absorb it. Those looking for action thrills will be disappointed. Those looking for a meditation on one man's experience of the Gulf War will be rewarded.

This movie blew me away. It is an excellent example of what hollywood can do when they get the right pieces in place.

There are a few things people need to know about this movie to make sure they don't expect something that this movie does not have. This movie is based on the memoir of a man who was in the Marines during desert storm. This isn't some hollywood glorification of war and combat and saving lives in the line of fire. This is a movie about a real person who went to a real war, with a real gun. This movie is about people an what they went through. It is not about the hollywood version of war heroes.

The movie does everything in it's power to not make a judgement on the war, or war in general. It doesn't glorify war any more than it criticizes war and vice versa. It just tell this one man's story. The movie gives you enough information to decide for yourself, or to ignore the whole thing and just appreciate a well-told story.

If you're looking for another Saving Private Ryan, keep looking. This movie was more designed to show the emotional anguish that comes from being away from your family for nearly a year, and all of the psychological effects that come from anticipating being shot at on a daily basis. The battle scenes are few and far between, but you seem to get a snap shot of how sitting around waiting and waiting and training and waiting takes it's toll on you. Many questions are left unanswered but it seems like a pretty realistic sample of a person's life who has been through a lot. Hard to rate it higher than a 3 though due to the multiple slow parts. Great sound track!

Jarhead describes Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations through the eyes of a US Marine sniper.
In short, the music, the setting and the acting are pretty good, while the plot is interesting. Nevertheless, the characters are not that likable, the dialogues could have been better, and it lacks that extra something to put it over the top.
In a nutshell, it's probably not a movie you would want to add to your collection, but it might provide for an evening's entertainment, and that's about it; No masterpiece here.

I want my two hours back. This film struggles to find an audience. I cannot imagine that it will inspire anyone to join the military (at least the fictional one it portrays!). Furthermore, it's message is utterly ambiguous- much less than what the veiwer deserves for putting up with its boorish crassness. Skip this one!

I too wasn't very impressed with Jarhead. I thought half way through that Jarhead seemed more like an insider movie for those who actually experienced the Marines, and perhaps other branches of the military. For those of us who haven't I just don't think there was enough direction to keep a lot of us interested. As someone else mentione. I too thought it was going to be a more modern version of Full Metal Jacket, but afte the first few minutes it was obvious it wasn't...

I'm not a fan of war movies. However, I have to say that *Jarhead* was one of the best war movies, along with *Full Metal Jacket*, *Saving Private Ryan* and a few others. It is true that *Jarhead* isn't truly a war action movie but it is still a good one to watch.

*Jarhead* is an account of Tony Swofford's experiences as a Marine in pre-Desert Storm training as a sniper and the war. Now, I've never read the book. I didn't even know there was a book...not that I would read a war book.

What I liked about *Jarhead* was that it covered aspects that are not usually covered in other war movies. One aspect that got the biggest coverage was the fact that the soldiers' wives and girlfriends informed them that they were cheating with other men or divorcing. It was interesting to see how these soldiers expected it as if it was one of the prices for joining the service and going to war.

The other interesting part was seeing the young cocky men cheering and jeering while watching some war reels in a theatre room. When they actually get sent to Kuwait, there's a complete change in their attitudes. However, when boredom sets in after a time of inactivity, the cockiness resurfaces.

There are so many aspects of the war in the movie. You're gonna see some interesting punishments meted out. You'll see some "postal" moments. Of course, you'll see the guys bonding and getting on each other's nerves. Testosterone is at an all-time high.

Cinematography here is just really awesome but provocative and taunting as well. These scenes were there to draw out emotions and reactions from you. Overall, they'll tell you just how real war was and how high adrenaline and stress were running. What's interesting is that the gore factor is low (for a war movie)...you're not gonna see blood and body parts flying everywhere. However, you'll see charred bodies and a couple of other things.

The one thing that I liked about this war movie was that it was able to maintain my interest/attention span. There's so many going on that you're not stuck on one part for a long time. Despite that there are a few war movies that I liked, I think that *Jarhead* would probably be the first (and only?) war movie that I wouldn't mind seeing again.

I really don't understand a couple of perspectives that are prevalent in a lot of the reviews I'm reading here: first, there are those that say this movie isn't a true to life account of the first Gulf War. Yet it is based a book written by a Marine who tells his account of what happened while he was there. Granted, his experience might be an unusually aberrant and anomalous one (or maybe author Anthony Swofford is just the Marines version of James Frey), but I think it's unfair to bash the movie's lack of "realism" because it quite faithfully portrays the words found in Swofford's account.

Second, there are those who say nothing happens in this movie (and I had read some accounts of this going into the movie, so I was prepared for periods of boredom in viewing the DVD). That said, I was never bored throughout the entire film and couldn't for the life of me figure out what could have been meant by the phrase "nothing happens" unless people are using it to mean "no traditional war movie combat happens."

Because, to my eyes and ears, plenty happened (and if you don't want to be spoiled for this movie, skip this paragraph because I'm about to list those happenings): there's the grueling (if uncharacteristic) training sequences (including the shocking death at Camp Pendleton), the fake-branding initiation, the football game and its consequences, the Christmas Eve party accident with the fire (and its fallout), the near killing and suicide by Swoff, the tense and surreal desert meeting with the Bedouins, the friendly fire attack, the running through mortar blasts to get batteries, the burning of the oil fields, the meal at the Highway of Death, Fowler's finding and desecration of the corpse, the incongruity of the oil-covered horse, the sniper mission with Swoff and Troy, and the final victory celebrations (at both home and in the desert).

Sure, there were never any full-on scenes of engaging the enemy, but enough happened that I was never restless even though the movie itself is sometimes a depiction of restlessness.

Finally, to those who say this movie dishonors our military, I just have to say that I found one of the final scenes on the bus (I'm trying not give anything away here) to be a very poignant and more-than-symbolic illustration of the brotherhood across many military generations.

I personally think this is very well-shot and well-acted representation of Swofford's book. It's not meant to be a depiction of what happens in the center of Operation Desert Storm, but instead shows what takes place at the storm's fringes, where even there soldiers are at times showered upon by oil, mortar, and the fallout from their own anxiety and boredom.

What a Jarhead!.... This movie is a must see for people who like the US Army in a show of Self destruction in a far away land.

My first thought about this movie was that it was flat, uninspiring, depressive and pretty boring. The best part of the movie was when they were watching "Apocolypse Now", and I thought too myself, "That was a great movie, I gotta watch that one". Then the scene where they are about to watch "The Deer Hunter" I thought, "Wow, another cool movie I want to see." Then, well, let's just say that scene falls short and turns out for the worse.

The characters weren't very interesting. I didn't feel "Swoff" was a character to really want to know. He seemed so disjared, but, I understand the director wanted us to feel that he "lost" himself. Well, in the process the audience got lost. Jamie Foxx's character, was useless. No presence. The whole movie was very avantgarde.

I wasn't in the military, but from reading reviews from people who were in the military, this movie isn't very realistic. I don't know either way. I do know that "Full Metal Jacket", "Apocolypse Now", "The Deer Hunter" were much better film. And, okay, maybe "Platoon", which I grew to dislike over the years.

Well, that's my review of the movie. Hope it helps. If you want to see it, wait until it comes on cable for free, don't buy the DVD. See it first.

This film, which is based on Anthony Swofford's account of his experiences in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, is a bit controversial but controvery that makes us think is a good thing.

In some ways this film is the exact opposite of the film Black Hawk Down. In Black Hawk Down, the war action never ends, whereas in Jarhead it never seems to start. Thus Jarhead focuses on the preparation for war, the boredom waiting for war, and the irony of fighting a war at the fringe if the action.

The film seemed to wish to make a statement about young male soldiers - what makes them tick. In this regard, the film succeeds. The film depicts these young 19 and 20 year old fellows as nieve about the world and yet foolishly cocky. These fellows were under educated and under achievers from rural areas or the inner city. They were not the sons of doctors and lawyers from the suburbs. They were influenced by a substance called testosterone that fuels aggressive blood lust and wild mood swings. They also are subject to the effects of alcohol, which we all know does not mix well with testosterone. Yet, they are also pack driven and eventually fall in line under the direction of an alpha male, played very well by Jamie Foxx in this film.

The film also casts a jaundiced eye toward military leadership. These young men were not really prepared for war, despite their bravado. The malfunction of equipment, such as gas masks and communication equipment, was a constant running joke in the film. Those who know just how much tax payers must pay for such useless broken equipment to military contractors realize this is far from a joke.

The story or plot involves a group of soldiers waiting to fight, always on the edges of the action, and thus they experience such adventures and finding thousands of burned Iraqi vehicles and charred bodies; or nomads complaining of shot camels; or a desert of black burning oil fields.

I think that this is one of those films, like Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, that get better with age and distance. With time the film will be seen as a film about the young male Marine, and not a political statement about our conflicts in Iraq. The title "Jarhead" should lead us to the real purpose of this film.