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Full Metal Jacket - disappointing

  • 16-11-2020 1:55pm
    #1
    stoneill
    Registered Users Posts: 3,610 ✭✭✭


    I initially saw the film when released back in 1987, at the time thought it was one of the best films I had ever seen.

    So with that in mind, I watched it again recently, and I was bitterly disappointed.

    It wasn't believable, the portrayal of characters was weak, they just didn't look right. Just blokes dressed up and playing. It didn't give the sense that these lads were in Vietnam.

    The supposed Vietnamese town looked exactly like it was, a derelict factory site in London, but with palm trees.

    Anyway 3/10


Comments

  • #2
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    pretty much. One of the also rans that followed Platoon. And the class slow blows his own brains out on the latrine


  • #3
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    pretty much. One of the also rans that followed Platoon. And the class slow blows his own brains out on the latrine

    You guys have got crappy taste. These are two of the best war films ever made!


  • #4
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Platoon is the archetypal. It is the best!!

    Dafoe = gaurdian angel

    Berringer=devil.


  • #5
    Joe_ Public
    Registered Users Posts: 13,023 ✭✭✭✭Joe_ Public


    Don't really see what is wrong with the setting tbh. Is there this thing where every vietnam film has to be set in the jungle to be authentic? FMJ is based on the tet offensive in Hue where the city was pretty much blasted to rubble and, in reality, one bombed out city generally looks like any other bombed out city. I love Platoon too but there's quite a lot of that film where characters and scenes are over dramatised. Are Elias and Barnes really that believable as characters? Not so sure tbh.


  • #6
    Infernum
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭Infernum


    I've only ever watched it for the scenes with Leonard and Hartman. The Vietnam scenes aren't anything special.


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  • #7
    byronbay2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,772 ✭✭✭byronbay2


    stoneill wrote: »
    I initially saw the film when released back in 1987, at the time thought it was one of the best films I had ever seen.

    So with that in mind, I watched it again recently, and I was bitterly disappointed.

    It wasn't believable, the portrayal of characters was weak, they just didn't look right. Just blokes dressed up and playing. It didn't give the sense that these lads were in Vietnam.

    The supposed Vietnamese town looked exactly like it was, a derelict factory site in London, but with palm trees.

    Anyway 3/10

    I would give it 6/10, disappointing for a Kubrick movie. The first part (recruit training) is excellent with Drill Instructor Hartman one of cinema's most memorable creations: a sadistic bully who is also quite witty with some laugh-out-loud one-liners.

    It all goes downhill quite quickly in the 2nd part of the movie and the final section in the bombed-out city is awful. The set looks completely wrong (I wondered the first time I watched if it was MEANT to look completely wrong, it was so bad) and the script and acting also seem unrealistic. Ruins the movie.

    Platoon, for all it's heavy-handed Good V Evil "message" is a far superior Vietnam War flick.


  • #8
    biko
    Registered Users Posts: 81,223 ✭✭✭✭biko


    I find that researching a film after I have seen it once spoils the next viewing as I don't watch it with "child's eyes" any more.


  • #9
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,392 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    The whole Vietnam segment of that film was shot in England, hence why it doesn't really look like Vietnam.

    Interesting clip here about how it was filmed. Really has nothing on the likes of Apocalypse Now when it comes to locations.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKzcFPWuaQ0


  • #10
    Tork
    Registered Users Posts: 3,258 ✭✭✭Tork


    Once Hartman was killed, the film lost its way for me. None of the other characters were half as compelling and it just petered out. It then just became like any other war film.


  • #11
    Agent Coulson
    Registered Users Posts: 60,279 ✭✭✭✭Agent Coulson


    I was always though Hamburger Hill was the best of the Vietnam made at that time.


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  • #12
    loyatemu
    Registered Users Posts: 14,727 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    the training section is brilliant, and the final scenes with the sniper are also very good. The rest of the Vietnam scenes (probably about a third of the movie) are a bit meh. I read the book ("The Short Timers") years ago, and it's a very straight adaptation of the source material, unlike some of Kubrick's other films.


  • #13
    p to the e
    Registered Users Posts: 2,303 ✭✭✭p to the e


    When people talk of this film or we see clips/references they usually refer to the first section of the film in the boot camp. That's what set this film apart from its contemporaries. It's a pity the whole film didn't just stay there as I really lose interest once they leave the barracks. This film belongs to R Lee Ermey and the stories around his casting and performance are legendary.


  • #14
    pixelburp
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 35,941 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    It's a long time since I saw the film last, but honestly, I liked the blasted industrial location of Vietnam; sure, the film itself kinda loses its punch I agree, but in terms of setting the choice for that more urbanised hellish landscape worked well.


  • #15
    Gatling
    Registered Users Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    You have to think though not every battle or skirmish happened in a jungle or rice fields , Vietnam did have urban combat ,so to say it doesn't look like Vietnam is a bit odd , everyone is use to the usual jungle fare ,

    To this date I think I still think R.Lee Ermys monologues are brilliant ,I always grin through the first few scenes ,

    Up until recently my phone tones were all Gunny Hartman speech's
    360_F_102352090_ie3kLjDIvgrT1sxVDknWCUh8PxgMYzM7.jpg




  • #16
    CastorTroy
    Registered Users Posts: 28,790 ✭✭✭✭CastorTroy


    While the first half has some of the more memorable lines, I recall parts from the second half like the sniper scene, the film crew and the soundtrack "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E"

    But reading through this thread it's as if some people clearly haven't heard about the bird.


  • #17
    loyatemu
    Registered Users Posts: 14,727 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    CastorTroy wrote: »
    While the first half has some of the more memorable lines, I recall parts from the second half like the sniper scene, the film crew and the soundtrack "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E"

    But reading through this thread it's as if some people clearly haven't heard about the bird.

    I think you'll find, everybody's heard about the bird...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUi5xKQXG6I


  • #18
    siblers
    Registered Users Posts: 12,354 ✭✭✭✭siblers


    Found it strange it was shot in England. The part set in Vietnam didn't really feel like Vietnam at all which made it quite jarring.

    Boot Camp part was superb, the part set in Vietnam was fairly standard. Was never really convinced by Matthew Modine either in it. Didn't find him a very strong lead


  • #19
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,230 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    I remember Gunny Hartman being a lot more intimidating. TBH, I can't take him seriously as an adult...



  • #20
    Wedwood
    Registered Users Posts: 626 ✭✭✭Wedwood


    Stanley Kubrick’s last great film.

    Like every great movie, it eventually becomes a little dated here and there and looks like it was filmed over 30 years ago, but far more rewatchable than more recent war movies like Dunkirk or 1917.

    There were some terrific classic Vietnam movies made in that era well worth watching again if you want to binge watch:

    The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Good Morning Vietnam, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Casualties of War, Born on the Fourth of July.

    And of course Stallone had his own special take with First Blood and Rambo:First Blood Part Two !!


  • #21
    Gatling
    Registered Users Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    People sometimes say that wouldn't have happened with Pvt pile being as bad as he was and how he was treated,
    McNamara's Morons explains more about it ,a genuine army policy to send people who are not suitable or capable to serve in the military, many were recruited despite failing medical and having learning disabilities or mental illness or not able to read or write and in cases not knowing how to tie their shoelaces
    360_F_102352090_ie3kLjDIvgrT1sxVDknWCUh8PxgMYzM7.jpg




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  • #22
    p to the e
    Registered Users Posts: 2,303 ✭✭✭p to the e


    Wedwood wrote: »
    Stanley Kubrick’s last great film.

    Like every great movie, it eventually becomes a little dated here and there and looks like it was filmed over 30 years ago, but far more rewatchable than more recent war movies like Dunkirk or 1917.

    There were some terrific classic Vietnam movies made in that era well worth watching again if you want to binge watch:

    The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Good Morning Vietnam, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Casualties of War, Born on the Fourth of July.

    And of course Stallone had his own special take with First Blood and Rambo:First Blood Part Two !!

    Why does everyone forget "Coming Home"?


  • #23
    flasher0030
    Registered Users Posts: 2,475 ✭✭✭flasher0030


    Wedwood wrote: »
    Stanley Kubrick’s last great film.

    Like every great movie, it eventually becomes a little dated here and there and looks like it was filmed over 30 years ago, but far more rewatchable than more recent war movies like Dunkirk or 1917.

    There were some terrific classic Vietnam movies made in that era well worth watching again if you want to binge watch:

    The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Good Morning Vietnam, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Casualties of War, Born on the Fourth of July.

    And of course Stallone had his own special take with First Blood and Rambo:First Blood Part Two !!


    You'd really need to be in right frame of mind to sit down and get full appreciation from Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now. Slow is putting it mildly. Good films overall though.


  • #24
    byronbay2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,772 ✭✭✭byronbay2


    flasher0030 wrote: »
    You'd really need to be in right frame of mind to sit down and get full appreciation from Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now. Slow is putting it mildly. Good films overall though.

    Deer Hunter, yes very slow moving, not a great movie because of it.
    Apocalypse Now slow moving? Are you having a laugh? Greatest movie ever made! So glad FFC made it while he had the chance, absolutely no chance of a movie like that ever being made again.


  • #25
    MfMan
    Registered Users Posts: 3,362 ✭✭✭MfMan


    I think TDH and the pacier FMJ are similar in ways, in that they're not overly concerned about the war and it's battles, more about the dehumanising and alienating effects the war has on the participants. The Saigon/Russian roulette scenes in TDH were visceral, and it remains my preference of the 2; FMJ is a bit more 'pop-culturish', (the type of movie Tarantino would die to make), but isn't necessarily a 'bad' film by any standards I think. It is it's director's vision of things.


  • #26
    Church on Tuesday
    Registered Users Posts: 3,858 ✭✭✭Church on Tuesday


    byronbay2 wrote: »
    I would give it 6/10, disappointing for a Kubrick movie. The first part (recruit training) is excellent with Drill Instructor Hartman one of cinema's most memorable creations: a sadistic bully who is also quite witty with some laugh-out-loud one-liners.

    It all goes downhill quite quickly in the 2nd part of the movie and the final section in the bombed-out city is awful. The set looks completely wrong (I wondered the first time I watched if it was MEANT to look completely wrong, it was so bad) and the script and acting also seem unrealistic. Ruins the movie.

    Platoon, for all it's heavy-handed Good V Evil "message" is a far superior Vietnam War flick.

    I love both films. Both are, quite easily, classics but maybe Hamburger Hill is the best 'Nam flick of them all.


  • #27
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Empty soulless film. Why did he bother with this. He brought absolutely nothing new to the table.

    Possibly my favourite director but this sticks out like a sore thumb.

    Just don’t get it


  • #28
    beauf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,651 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Empty soulless film. ...

    I agree.

    Of course that was the intention. There was no escaping the brutalizing of the recruits. Even those who manage to retain their humanity after basic . Eventually end up being brutalized by war itself. There was no escape.

    I think people struggle to have any empathy or connection with the characters.


  • #29
    simongurnick
    Registered Users Posts: 1,919 ✭✭✭simongurnick


    Dialogue in full metal jacket is unreal. Fair enough, it may not have lasted the test of time and I haven't watched it myself in a while, but in its day it was brilliant.


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