Jarhead [Blu-ray] Review
I am not a huge fan of war movies in general. I find them all too often rather boring and redundant. I know that they have a huge fanbase but I just never found myself in that select group. I have enjoyed a few to an extent, but in general, if it's going to be a war movie, I much prefer the kind that involves bows and arrows and spears and armor, not guns and tanks. I think that it is my predisposition to war films that actually made `Jarhead' stand out to me as so well done. It is far from your typical war movie, mostly because the war is not a major character in the film. It is more a haunting enigma that hangs over the heads of every character in the film, a hushed secret that keeps eluding them the more they desperately reach out for it.
Anthony Swoffard is reaching pretty high.
`Jarhead' is based off of the memoir written by Swoffard. I have not read the book, although I hear that it is fantastic. It chronicles (as does the movie) the action, or lack there of, that takes place while these young men train to kill. What I loved so much about this film is that it really captures that desperation, that longing for purpose that these young men go through while separated from all they know and love.
Not too long ago I was on a cruise with the wife and we were talking with the other couples at our dinner table (whom we had never met before), one of which was on leave to get married and was going to be returning to active duty overseas. During our conversation he commented that a lot of the soldiers he knew, young soldiers, were there for the `thrill'. We collectively (at least the men at the table) agreed that a big draw for young ones to join the army is to get to try in real life what they spend hours doing in videogames. Even the `Army Now' campaigns on television focus on the action, the fighting, the `thrill'.
`Jarhead' exposes the reality behind that `thrill'.
Thanks to some very competent performances, `Jarhead' becomes impeccable. I have raved and then bashed Gyllenhaal in my reviews and in conversations. He has talent, he just doesn't always capitalize on it. This same year he did `Proof' and `Brokeback Mountain'. In my initial review for `Brokeback Mountain' I raved Gyllenhaal, but after subsequent viewings I realized how `out of place' he seemed at times. In `Proof' (which I have yet to review) he is just forgettable. In `Jarhead' he is marvelous. There is a quality to his eyes that portray an almost confused curiosity, as if he wants to know more but is afraid of what he'll learn. He conveys that so well here. Jamie Foxx also steps up his game by sinking into what could have been a generic and clichéd character and giving him a little extra life. The slew of supporting actors, not the least of which is Lucas Black, really bode well with the film and its purpose and deliver exceedingly well.
But, if you have read the four reviews that preceded this one you will know that this review was inspired by one man and one man alone; Peter Sarsgaard.
This is my favorite performance by Peter and truthfully one of the best supporting performances of this past decade. He has such power and control and dynamic character development. What is so wonderful about this performance is that he truly plays `supporting' very well. Throughout the first two thirds of the film he almost disappears behind the man that is Gyllenhaal, allowing the film to really root in Swofford's character. He makes a statement, sure, and he becomes that secondary character you want to learn more about, but he never crosses that line with showy actorly acrobatics. And then the sniper scene comes and this man crumbles and I was literally BLOWN away (seriously, best single sequence of acting in the year that was 2005). Everything that he has been gradually building up to just unloads in a single breathtaking scene. This mans entire existence shatters and leaves us with a devastating climax.
Sam Mendes is a director who I really have a lot of respect for. He has gotten a bad rap for winning the Oscar so soon (first film, `American Beauty') but his following films have proven his talent. While `Road to Perdition', `Jarhead' and `Revolutionary Road' all have there drawbacks (`Jarhead' doesn't really have one for me, but I understand why others find it less than rewarding, especially if they were expecting a generic `war' movie) they also exude a distinct knowledge of subject by Mendes. He understands how to create something that titillates the senses (`Perdition's' rain soaked sets, `Jarhead's' sun cloaked bodies, `RR's' rooms bathed in white) but also delivers a profound blow. I think that for a young director he has built for himself quite the resume (I still have not seen `Away We Go', but as per usual with Mendes, it has its raving and its scathing reviews).
If you are looking for something that is less typical and more thought provoking; less generic and predictable and more emotionally investing then I highly recommend you seek out `Jarhead' immediately. If you are looking for your average `blow `em up' type war film then stay far, far away.
Jarhead [Blu-ray] Overview
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 25-NOV-2008
Media Type: Blu-Ray
Jarhead [Blu-ray] Specifications
Based on Anthony Swofford's excellent memoir about his experiences as a Marine Sniper in Gulf War I, Jarhead is a war movie in which the waiting is a far greater factor upon the characters than the war itself, and the build up to combat is more drama than what combat is depicted. To some viewers hoping for typical movie action, this will seem like a cruel joke. But it's not. It's just the story as it was written, and if you liked the book, you will probably like the movie. If you didn't, then the movie won't change your mind.
The movie follows the trajectory of Swofford (played with thoughtful intensity by Jake Gyllenhaal) from wayward Marine recruit (he joined because he "got lost on the way to college") to skilled Marine sniper, and on into the desert in preparation for the attack on Iraq. No-nonsense, Marine-for-life Staff Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx), the man who recruited Swofford and his spotter Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) into the sniper team, leads them in training, and in waiting where their lives are dominated by endless tension, pointless exercises in absurdity (like playing football in the scorching heat of the desert in their gas masks so it will look better for the media's TV cameras), more training, and constant anticipation of the moment to come when they'll finally get to kill. When the war does come, it moves too fast for Swofford's sniper team, and the one chance they get at a kill--to do the one thing they've trained so hard and waited so long for--eludes them, leaving them to wonder what was the point of all they had endured.
As directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), the movie remains very loyal to the language and vision of the book, but it doesn't entirely work as the film needs something more than a literal translation to bring out its full potential. Mendes's stark and, at times, apocalyptic visuals add a lot and strike the right tone: wide shots of inky-black oil raining down on the vast, empty desert from flaming oil wells contrasted with close-ups of crude-soaked faces struggling through the mire vividly bring to life the meaning of the tagline "welcome to the suck." But much of the second half of the movie will probably leave some viewers feeling disappointed in the cinematic experience, while others might appreciate its microcosmic depiction of modern chaos and aimlessness. Jarhead is one of those examples where the book is better than the movie, but not for lack of trying. --Dan Vancini
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