Jarhead - movie review

JARHEAD:

 

The Gulf War seems to be a constant hunting ground for material to make movies. This was a movie done in between the older ones like Courage Under Fire, Black Hawk Down and more recent ones like Hurt Locker, and it was meant to shift the focus away from the bravado, to the people in the war, focussing more on the psyche, the angst and the personal mental trauma.

 

It comes with a stellar cast and director, so you would probably bank on it to succeed and win a few Oscars with the emotion driven, close-up look at a bunch of young men thrown into boot camp, then thrust into battle only to emerge empty handed, in mind, body and without a kill to their sorry names.

 

Yet the show rings as empty as the war itself, the actors almost sleepwalking through their roles, seemingly just turning up to take their paychecks and enjoy a break from their other movie making commitments. Perhaps they were trying too hard to empty themselves and in the process, took all their emotions and also left it in their trailers before emerging onto the set.

 

There is a gloom to the whole movie but you get a feel of needing to ponder about it. 3/5 for the plot

 

There is also little action and much less surround effects, despite the many opportunities to make use of the war driven movie. The colors are also as drained as the empty shells of the actors, although this could be a deliberate ploy by the filmmakers.

 

Forget any chick factor too.

 

I would say this could be a rental for a really really boring Sunday night, but you will need to be pretty desperate to want to watch this.