Jarhead - The Memorable TV DVD Review

Based on the bestselling memoirs of Gulf War veteran Anthony Swofford, published in 2003, this is a brave subject to take on considering the events of the last couple of years. Pretty much everyone has an opinion on the current situation in Iraq, and few of those opinions are weakly held. To do a movie about the first Gulf War naturally drew comparisons to what is going on in the second (even though the current one has technically finished now), so it is a brave director indeed who risks the very vocal ire of either the pro-war or anti-war sides. But, as Michael Moore has proved with Fahrenheit 9/11, controversy and topicality can easily sell.

Expectations were set high for this one. Not only does it star Jake Gyllenhaal, fresh from his much-lauded turn in Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning gay cowboy flick Brokeback Mountain, but also it’s the latest effort from American Beauty and Road to Perdition director Sam Mendes, hailed as Hollywood’s new golden boy after his move from the London stage to the movies back in 1999 but still with only a couple of films to his name.

The only trouble is that unlike with Mendes’ previous films, both of which centred around interesting new approaches to relatively familiar subjects, the basic premise and structure of the movie – following marines from basic training into combat – seem eerily familiar. Replace desert with jungle, and this Gulf War flick could, at first glance, seem strikingly similar to Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 Vietnam classic Full Metal Jacket.

Both also centre around a charismatic young lead with a sense of humour who, despite (or perhaps because of) his obvious intelligence can’t see quite what the war is for while, nonetheless, still vaguely hoping to see some real action.

Mendes is too canny a director to merely have done a straight swap of one controversial war for another, however, and instead opted for playing up the humour in the face of death which litters Swofford’s memoir – much like the really rather superb 1999 Gulf War flick Three Kings. The film is also littered with subtle – and deliberately obvious – references to a whole slew of Vietnam flicks, showing he’s more than aware of the tradition within which this movie is operating.

Yet the major focus of the film is not on jokes, nor on warfare – instead it is the abject boredom of soldiers all geared up for battle and yet forced to sit on the sidelines, experiencing the military equivalent of stagefright, desperate to get on with it yet terrified at the same time. Throughout all this, Gyllenhaal’s pitch-perfect performance somehow manages to keep you entertained throughout the tedium of the seemingly endless waiting he and his squad have to endure in the desert heat. Whereas Heath Ledger stole some of his thunder in Brokeback Mountain, here Gyllenhaal amply holds his own against a supporting cast that includes Oscar winner Jamie Foxx.

This may not live up to some of the expectations and hopes many had for Mendes’ third film. It is neither as quirky as American Beauty nor as consistently realised as Road to Perdition. It is, however, a timely and interesting addition to the war film genre, showing a side of battle that few films have broached with Mendes’ customary classy visual style, all hooked around a central performance that truly seems to show a great new talent beginning to emerge.

ANY SPECIAL FEATURES?

Swoff's Fantasies with Commentary by Director Sam Mendes and Editor Walter Murch | News Interviews in Full with Commentary by Director Sam Mendes and Editor Walter Murch | Deleted Scenes with Introduction by Director Sam Mendes and Editor Walter Murch | Feature Commentary with Director Sam Mendes | Feature Commentary with Screenwriter William Broyles, Jr. & Author Anthony Swofford