Full Metal Jacket, 1987

I was, roughly, fourteen when Full Metal Jacket came out. I did not see it in the theaters. I was more interested in Ghostbusters and Batman and those kinds of movies... not stuff about Vietnam.

About a year later, my dad rented Full Metal Jacket... and I fell in love with the war genre. Platoon, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, The Iron Triangle, Hamburger Hill... all stuff about Vietnam. I was fascinated by them, because my dad had fought there... and the stories he told... well, I found out after watching these movies that his stories were so much more real... but that I felt closer to him just being able to talk about things, about the war... finding things out from the movies... you see?

Full Metal Jacket was the first movie I ever owned. And I couldn't keep it at my house... I had to leave it with him. For some reason, that made it all the more sweeter.

The Shining was the first Kubrick movie I ever watched... but not because it was a Kubrick movie. But because it was based on a Stephen King story. I was young, I needed the money.

It wasn't until I was in my senior year in high school that I started to watch movies because of their cult status, or because of the director, or a certain actor... mainly, prior to this, I watched big budget action movies, or comic movies, or comedies... but not thinking movies, or cultured movies... or just plain ole' good movies. Not that big budget movies aren't good... but now they have their place.

Kubrick is my second all time favorite director, next to David Lynch. The projects that Kubrick picked were far reaching, I'll say. Ahead of their time... innovative... they all work well, but I think 'far reaching' pretty much exemplifies his entire approach to film, in my eyes.

One of my favorite abilities of Kubrick was his writing ability. He's written most everything he's directed. Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory (both films with the help of scribe Jim Thompson)... Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, FMJ and his last film, Eyes Wide Shut.

Now, if you take a close look at that list, almost all of them were adaptations.

The Killing was taken from the novel Clean Break by Lionel White.

Paths of Glory was taken from the novel by Humphrey Cobb.

Lolita was from Nabokov's novel, who helped write the script.

Peter George wrote Dr. Strangelove.

2001 was written with sci-fi genius Arthur C. Clarke.

Burgess wrote A Clockwork Orange.

William Thackeray wrote Barry Lyndon.

Stephen King wrote The Shining... although Kubrick butchered the book, let's be honest.

Full Metal Jacket was taken from a novel called The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford.

Eyes Wide Shut was taken from Arthur Schnitzler's novel of the same name.

Now, this isn't any big secret. But it says something very specific about the man. He saw beautiful imagery in fiction... work that he thought would be just as beautiful, translated on the screen. And, in my opinion, in each and every adaptation he re-created... he was right.

Steve Kloves is a writer, a contemporary writer, who has a wonderful ability to adapt novels into terrific screenplays. He recently did this with Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys... in which Kloves was nominated for an Oscar. This also got Kloves the opportunity to adapt one of the most popular works of fiction in the last five years... the Harry Potter series.

Adaptations are difficult. You have to stay true to the book, true to the writer, the reader... open up the eyes of an audience who has not read or heard of the book... it's very difficult. William Goldman did it well... Jim Uhls did it well... they're out there... but they're rare.

What has shown true to each of Kubrick's movies is his ability to work not only with the actors, but with the DP as well. Kubrick started out as a DP, shooting films in the 1950's... but used other DP's to shoot his movies. It's obvious his eye influenced them such... there is a similar look to each of his films... but a change in DPs.

I was particularly impressed with the camera work in this film, his second to last. Douglas Milsome had worked on a number of other Kubrick films, prior to shooting FMJ... along with other neat movies. Blade Runner, The Bounty, Highlander, Last of the Mohicans... FMJ was his second career film. But, unfortunately, he would not go on to shoot other great films. His resume is rather lackluster, with Robin Hood (the Costern one) and Body of Evidence being the more mainstream films... but with Sunchaser, Breakdown, Legionnaire, Highlander: Endgame and Dungeons and Dragons also showing up. They're jobs, for sure... but they lack the grace that his work in FMJ showed.

One of the great things this film has going for it is the cast... all of which had had previous film experience... but truly came together as a group in this film... with performances not competing as much, as each one standing out on its own.

Specifically, this is true with Vincent D'Onofrio's, Matthew Modine's and Adam Baldwin's. I found all of their roles to be so incredibly dead on... especially Modine's voice over work. It was such a strange choice, for him to be reading in a monotone voice... but it added a creepy, detached feeling to the film.

I watch movies like this and there is no way in hell I can relate to anything the characters are going through. The pain, the suffering of losing a friend... the detachment of death being an everyday occurance... I'm 28. I've never been to war... I have no basis for comparision... but I am able to empathize with the characters... at least to wish them well, and be sad when one that I particularly like dies.

R. Lee Ermey is just an all around incredible piece of work, as Drill Instructor Hartman. I mean, jesus... this guy's ability to act was just incredible... and it wasn't a shock to me to find out that he actually was a drill instructor in the army. Watching guys like Louis Gossett Jr., or James Tolkan in Top Gun... you can see them as something else... you have seen them as someone else... but Ermey was perfect.

The rest of the grunts pulled out fantastic acting. Arliss Howard (who had a new movie come out called Big Bad Love, in which he directed and starred), Kevyn Major Howard, Ed O'Ross, Dorian Harewood... all guys with serious acting backgrounds... each giving their role their all.

There's not much else I can say about this film, except it is the most realistic Vietnam movie I've seen. Platoon definitely has its moments, and is taken directly from the experiences of Oliver Stone... but there is something so completely detached and true about this film. From their work on Paradise Island, to the ruins of Wey City... I couldnt' tell you... there is just some serious truth to this film.

If you're interested in knowing more about this movie, there are a few places that you can visit. One is the trivia page on IMDB. It's got some great stuff on the movie there.

The second place you can go is to DVDfile.com... and do a search on Full Metal Jacket. They'll have reviews of the two recent DVD releases, with great technical information, so you know which one to spend your money on.

The third place is one great place. It's got a ton of articles and information on the film. The Full Metal Jacket Site. Great, great stuff.

I will also say this. I believe this film (and, sure, Platoon, but more FMJ) was one of the main reasons that Tour of Duty (1987-1990) was as well received as it was. It also paved the way for China Beach, which came out a year later.

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