Full Metal Jacket
“He died for a good cause”
“What cause”
Words simply cannot describe how good of an anti-war film this is.
This film was so much better the second time.
Full Metal Jacket perfectly shows the dehumanising and psychological effects of war. The moment when Joker is about to shoot the sniper but cannot bring himself to pull the trigger is just phenomenal. He was the only character in his squad that hadn’t yet became a crazy, dehumanised killing machine and the moment he pulls that trigger, his innocence is gone. It is shown that his innocence is gone in the wonderful ending, where the soldiers all walk back to their barracks, after killing Vietnamese soldiers that wanted nothing to do with the war, while singing a song about Mickey Mouse. Joker had just shot a little girl and he was smiling while singing about Mickey Mouse. Perfect ending.
I can’t write a review of Full Metal Jacket and not mention the masterful first half of the movie, which is definitely superior to the second half. The Private Pyle story line is one of the best in movie history in my opinion. While the second half shows the loss of innocence amazingly, and should absolutely be studied in English classes, the first half shows the loss of humanity, as Private Pyle is turned into a crazy killing machine by his drill instructor, which ends up backfiring on the drill instructor and makes one of the best and most disturbing movie scenes of all time.
Overall, Full Metal Jacket is one of the best anti-war films of all time. It perfectly explores the loss of humanity, the loss of innocence, masculinity and why war is a bad thing that should not happen.
This film is truly TREMENDOUS!
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