2008 Woodie Awards
Acclaimed director dazzles with war-less war movie
By Nick Gligor
Rocket Staff Writer
Issue date: 11/18/05 Section: Entertainment
There's no doubt about it: Jarhead is one of those movies you'll either love or hate.
Some have actually called the film anti-American. Bringing a distinct vision to the project, acclaimed director Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition, American Beauty) crafts a different "war" movie than we're used to. Instead of concentrating on explosions, endless gunfire and…well, explosions…Mendes reveals what it's like behind the scenes.
Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Anthony Swofford, the film follows Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the rest of the Marines throughout their pre-Desert Storm experiences in Saudi Arabia, protecting oil fields during the summer of 1990.
Before they can get to war, the soldiers first have to endure long days of laborious workouts, overexertion, extensive training and enough R. Lee Ermey-inspired castigation to fill the Persian Gulf. Much like Full Metal Jacket, the men become obsessed with their rifles and start itching for a kill. And when they finally get the call, it seems like things couldn't get any better. And they don't.
When they get there, they are instead subjugated to their post in the middle of the desert. They wait. They wait some more. They become desperate for stimulation.
The tension eventually gets to all of them - Swoff particularly. Snapping under the pressure of monotony, he nearly kills one of his own, reducing the other soldier to tears.
Gyllenhaal is perfect in Jarhead, plain and simple. He encompasses all possible emotions in his role: excitement, anxiousness, composure, sarcasm, fear, vulnerability, edginess, paranoia, loneliness, carelessness, maturity, immaturity - the list goes on and on. He's so well-rounded that he can roll all of these emotions together cohesively and still make one complex, multi-layered human being.
Swoff's shooting partner, Troy, played by the soft-spoken Peter Sarsgaard, gives one of his best performances to date. Already a highly regarded actor, he's earned a lot of respect over a very short period of time and has the makings of a big name actor.
Jamie Foxx, coming off the heels of the most successful year of his career, continues to impress as well, tackling the role of Staff Sgt. Sykes.
The editing in Jarhead is top notch thanks to the talents of the legendary Walter Murch, whose mastery is most memorably defined by the work he did on Apocalypse Now (a clip of which appears in the film, coincidentally). The cuts are tight and focused, particularly the close-ups, with absolutely no subtle nuance of any sort getting lost in the mix.
It's also filled with magnificent visual effects from the wizards at Industrial Light and Magic. Their beautiful recreations of the burning Kuwait oil fields are an amazing, almost ethereal sight to behold. This warm, stylish sequence is one of the film's visual highlights.
Honest and blatant, yet dense and dreamy - Jarhead is excellent. Mendes couldn't have gotten it more right with this film. Anti-American? Please. Go watch Fahrenheit 9/11.
Some have actually called the film anti-American. Bringing a distinct vision to the project, acclaimed director Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition, American Beauty) crafts a different "war" movie than we're used to. Instead of concentrating on explosions, endless gunfire and…well, explosions…Mendes reveals what it's like behind the scenes.
Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Anthony Swofford, the film follows Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the rest of the Marines throughout their pre-Desert Storm experiences in Saudi Arabia, protecting oil fields during the summer of 1990.
Before they can get to war, the soldiers first have to endure long days of laborious workouts, overexertion, extensive training and enough R. Lee Ermey-inspired castigation to fill the Persian Gulf. Much like Full Metal Jacket, the men become obsessed with their rifles and start itching for a kill. And when they finally get the call, it seems like things couldn't get any better. And they don't.
When they get there, they are instead subjugated to their post in the middle of the desert. They wait. They wait some more. They become desperate for stimulation.
The tension eventually gets to all of them - Swoff particularly. Snapping under the pressure of monotony, he nearly kills one of his own, reducing the other soldier to tears.
Gyllenhaal is perfect in Jarhead, plain and simple. He encompasses all possible emotions in his role: excitement, anxiousness, composure, sarcasm, fear, vulnerability, edginess, paranoia, loneliness, carelessness, maturity, immaturity - the list goes on and on. He's so well-rounded that he can roll all of these emotions together cohesively and still make one complex, multi-layered human being.
Swoff's shooting partner, Troy, played by the soft-spoken Peter Sarsgaard, gives one of his best performances to date. Already a highly regarded actor, he's earned a lot of respect over a very short period of time and has the makings of a big name actor.
Jamie Foxx, coming off the heels of the most successful year of his career, continues to impress as well, tackling the role of Staff Sgt. Sykes.
The editing in Jarhead is top notch thanks to the talents of the legendary Walter Murch, whose mastery is most memorably defined by the work he did on Apocalypse Now (a clip of which appears in the film, coincidentally). The cuts are tight and focused, particularly the close-ups, with absolutely no subtle nuance of any sort getting lost in the mix.
It's also filled with magnificent visual effects from the wizards at Industrial Light and Magic. Their beautiful recreations of the burning Kuwait oil fields are an amazing, almost ethereal sight to behold. This warm, stylish sequence is one of the film's visual highlights.
Honest and blatant, yet dense and dreamy - Jarhead is excellent. Mendes couldn't have gotten it more right with this film. Anti-American? Please. Go watch Fahrenheit 9/11.
