Full Metal Jacket

Brilliant from start to finish. Some say that only the boot camp section is great but I disagree entirely. The movie certainly does shift at that point suddenly but it perfectly shows the change between boot camp and war. Outstanding film.

A personal favorite, Full Metal Jacket consists of a spectacular first half that transitions into almost a completely different, yet equally gripping film. Ermey's performance is absolutely stellar, and Kubrick's directing really shines. Dehumanization at its best, er... worst.

The first part of the film is absolutely BRILLIANT... the story, the acting, the directing is amazing. However the movie lost me at the second part. It got a lot weaker as it progressed. The directing is still amazing, but the story isn't that interesting. But the first half more than makes up for the second.

Equates sex and death - those two favorite concerns of the adolescent male - like few films I've seen outside of Cronenberg's ouevre. And yet the Marines' testosterone-fueled rage is ultimately rendered hollow in the face of wartime horrors, as their transformation from empathetic human beings into remorseless killing machines is completed. Like so many other Kubrick films, unjustly chastized - but unlike most, its critical reevaluation is yet to come.

Like most people, I consider the first part to be the best. The dehumanizing rigors of drilling, the transformation of Pyle, and all those colorful lines that explode out of Ermey's mouth. By contrast, the dialogue in the rest of the movie is horribly clichéd and poorly delivered. The middle section is an unfocused hodge-podge of "Vietnam stuff". Some of it is interesting, but for the most part it seems to belong to a lesser film. Only at the sniper episode does the film regain its legs.