Review of Jarhead (2005) by Paulderevere — 03 Nov 2005

A gripping and intense movie that, unlike what most people probably expected through nearly a year of this movie's studio hype, doesn't choose to make a statement of its own about war ("THE war," the one we're in now), the U.

S. Marine Corps or the Gulf War. "Jarhed" may tell us that the Gulf War was "fucked up," but most of us go in already knowing that. If there's any statement to be made through "Jarhead," its purely in context and not subtext-- be you a civilian or a soldier, pro-war or anti-war.

In the way of its other contemporaries, ("Three Kings" and especially "Gunner Palace") "Jarhead" balances the reality of war and the surreality of a mind subjected to war in a film with rich visuals, tour de force acting and "realistic," some would call underwhelming, dialogue.

I call it a triumph. It is, in a word, as "real" as fictional filmmaking gets.