Jarhead (2005) – Review
Directed by Sam Mendes
I’d been eagerly awaiting this film since I’d heard about it some months ago. Jarhead is a film that will smack you in the face from the start.
This is a war film like you‚Äôve never seen it before! Based on the book written by Anthony Swofford, the real life ‚ÄòJarhead‚Äô, the movie shows us the harsh reality of war, through the eyes of ‘Swofford’ played by Jake Gyllenhaal.
Jarhead is shockingly good ‚Äì why?…The voice over is used in an inventive way, the cinematography is out of this world and unlike anything you would have seen before and finally the film is funny, which is rare in a war film. In addition Mendes explores the psychological aspect of war and captures what the soldiers are really going through in the blazing heat, desert sand and full chemical suits.
There’s a great cast with Jake Gyllenhaal (Swofford), Peter Sarsgaard (Troy), Jamie Foxx (Staff Sgt. Sykes) & Chris Cooper (Lt. Col. Kazinski).
There have been some great war movies in the lat 30 years, such as ‘Full Metal Jacket‘, ‘Apocalypse Now‘ & ‘Platoon‘ and I hope Jarhead will be considered the great war movie of my generation…only time will tell.
2006 has started off with a bang!
9/10