Jarhead--book and movie (Open Spoilers)

Cafe Society
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No specific spoilers, but a little is given away.

First and foremost: **Jarhead ** met my most basic expectations and needs- hot, sweaty, nude (oh yes!) Marines. I went in hoping for, at best, topless and sweaty Marines; my expectations were met and even exceeded. There were topless Marines (a whole bunch, all the time), bottomless Marines, sweaty (nude) Marines, and hot Marine Corps shower scenes. There were also many other good (GOOD!) times, including (but not limited to): Marine masturbation and a “Field Fuck” (which was actually a little more bizzare than sexy-- who am I kidding? It was sexy). Oh and penis ensued–many times. Almost more times than I was comfortable with-- what? I said almost!

And now that I’m done with being a giant whore for the Corps (for the moment), on to the actual content and such. First, I was pleasantly surprised that the movie didn’t try to make (too many) bold, political statements. Before I went in, I had heard from those that actually read the book that Swofford had quite the ax to grind. There were a few comments here and there about how it was all for oil, but you weren’t beat over the head with a message.

Anyone who goes into this movie expecting a war movie is going to be rather disappointed. Then again, some might say that anyone who went into Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm and expected a “real war” were rather disappointed as well. But hey- **Jarhead ** portrayed the reality of the Gulf War pretty well.

The acting was surprisingly good. I loathe Jamie Foxx, but I really enjoyed his performance here. Foxx’s character- who loves the Corps (“I. Love. This. Job. Ooorah.”) for what it has given him serves as a wonderful contrast to some of the characters who simply do not want to be there. People who “got lost on the way to college,” people who had degrees in literature from top universities, convicts, and lost souls- the movie shows a little of everybody.

Yes, the beginning was very reminiscent of Full Metal Jacket, but I imagine that any movie that attempts to accurately portray Marine boot camp will resemble Full Metal Jacket.

All in all, good movie. Good actors, interesting and different take on the stereotypical “war movie”, interesting historical perspective, good pacing (I didn’t even realize how long the movie was going), and hot, sweaty, naked Marines.

I said it before (in my infinite wisdom): “There is no way this movie could be bad.” I was right. Being the history nerd I am (particularly being a history nerd who is totally interested in the first Gulf War at the moment), I was totally entertained. Being the bleeding heart liberal that I am, I was interested by subtle commentary and messages about war that were given. Being a red-blooded American female, I was *very * interested by the shower scenes. :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeah, I’m gunna go now and, um, study the Bible? Yeah, that’s the ticket.

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That’s how you’d hear it from me - I went to college not far from Camp Lejeune, and the Jarheads (note sneer) would come up on the weekends and basically do nothing but get drunk and start fights - oh, and break into the women’s dorms, looking for unlocked doors. It got bad enough that the college and the town went to the camp commandant and told him that he’d better get these guys under control, or they would no longer be welcome.

So to me, “jarhead” means “drunk, stupid and violent marine out looking for trouble”. Mind, I also know many Marines who weren’t any of the above, and had no problems with any of them.

(I also once stopped and picked up three Marines out hitchhiking, and got them back to base - I had seen their broken down car half a mile back, and it was 0200 in the morning. They had to back by 0600, so I got them to Jacksonville by 0330. I’m assuming they were able to get onto the base from there on time. )

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From my other thread I started:

I thought all of the acting was very good. Jaime Foxx suprised me. He was very believable and didn’t ham at all. Jason Giylhenalwhatever was also very good. Also very believable and he didn’t seem to soak up the screen time. The southern accent guy (the one from Friday Night Lights) was great too. All of it was very believable. It didn’t seem like anyone was acting.

The scenes in the burning oil fields were amazing. I couldn’t figure out why they were digging in the oil soaked sand. I can’t imagine it was foxholes. Why would they put them in the oil? The visual was awesome though. The horse scene was kind of sad.

Anyway, I was very satisfied with the movie. It was much better than I expected. Jason G seemed to just let himself go and became his character. Same for Foxx. I highly recommend the flick for those thinking about it.

(The scene with the sex tape from that guys wife was fucked up. Even though it’s been debunked a few times I can imagine that similar things have happened elsewhere)

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The southern accent guy: You mean Lucas Black? If so, yes, he was a fine actor as a kid and it’s good that he’s still getting work.

 Something odd:  The soundtrack won't be released until Dec. 6.  I don't get it....Shouldn't it be out at the same time as the movie?
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Saw it today. Really liked it. But I was disappointed that it didn’t cover the AFTER the war stuff which really made the book powerful.

Any changes they made I felt made sense in terms of the pacing and plot of the movie. I would have liked to seen Fowler as being closer to the book and of course… as I mentioned earlier… I would have liked the 50 cal training to be covered… if for a moment.

As far as the validity of Swoffords claims… having just tonight discussed it at length with a Pendleton Marine who had read it… there’s embellishment but the majority of it is true to life in the Corps. I think a lot of people who dismiss it and him are the kind who have a very, shall we say, protective relationship with the Marines.

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Doubtful. I was in the Army, and other than the fact that they are also the US military, I have no sentimental feelings about the Marines. The fact is, Swofford’s book is chock full of lies and laughable exaggerations. Period.

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Walking out of the theater yesterday, after seeing Jarhead, a young man (perhaps a Gulf War Vet?) shouted out, “That movie was financed by Osama bin Laden”. I’m not quite sure what he meant by that outburst. Perhaps he was commenting on the glib nature of the film?

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I think that sums the movie up perfectly. Like Three Kings, it really did portray the changing nature of war-- the waiting, the anti-climaxes. Had I not read the book before, I would have been waiting for that one beig fight scene. That final battle. But it never came, because it never happened (for Swofford’s unit, at least). Even the part where they’re on the receiving end of friendly fire was much briefer than Mendes could have made it. Think about it. He could have had foreboding music, utter chaos, long pans over the wreckage. But it became a bit of a blip.

I loved the performances (I went for Sarsgaard and enjoyed him, as always, though he seemed a bit too thoughtful for that part, and I ended up pleasantly surprised by Lucas Black). The parts with the squishy-faced yokel guy were funny and creepy, but he was a bit of a scapegoat-- like “here’s that bad apple in the marines,” when really, incidents that occurred with other members, even Swofford himself, were piled onto this one guy.
I like that a long, drawn out political discussion was pretty much nipped in the bud in the beginning (by Troy, I think).
I wish they had used a line from the book that the Vietnam vet said on the bus, near the end. Something like, “Thank you for not making us seem like animals.”

But yes, in the end I think a lot of people probably went in for a shoot em up and a real FU to them towelheads, and came out of that theatre in an utter rage after not getting the usual war movie climax and release. At the same time,t hey didn’t get a melodramatic anti-war movie. So what then? They might have to talk about it instead of rehashing the cool explosions? I dunno.
It’s a hard movie to love, but I’d still recommend it.

But how about that Annapolis? Shouldn’t that have a “funded by the US Navy” disclaimer?

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Wow, this is pretty harsh. My husband is a Marine, (or was, until he retired last Tuesday) and served in both Bush Family Wars. He found both the book, and the movie in his words “dead to nuts”.

I liked the movie, for what it was: a study in boredom. I think the “field fuck” was one of the funniest scenes I’ve seen in a long time.

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They should digitally insert a shirtless Jake Gylenhaal into every movie ever made. It would save the industry.

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One of the most interesting things I found:

We (Americans and the Marines themselves) are supposed to see Saddam as a horrible, evil, child gassing devil; but the only time we see evidence of Saddam’s violence is the photograph of the burned child that is shown to the Marines when they arrive in the Middle East.

On the other hand, we are shown the Americans partaking in just about every excess. We see standard things like drinking, partying, “sex” (masturbation and such). Yet all of the most horrible visuals we are given have been have been, well, caused by the Americans.

The only “negative” thing we see the Iraqis do is light up the oil wells, but we could argue all day to the fact that they may have been justified.

I found the VERY subtle presentation of that message to be quite nicely done.

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I guess I missed it, but how did Troy die, exactly? I haven’t read the book, and I didn’t catch it in the movie. Good flick, overall, however, and I will recommend it to whomever asks.

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The movie/book captures the FEEL of the Marine corps because it is full of the accepted CLICHES of the Marine Corps. The problem is, almost none of it actually happened to HIM. As I said, as a fictional novel of the Marines circa Desert Storm, it’s totally acceptable and a good read. As a NON-FICTION biography, it’s a total pack of lies.

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So in other words you found it to be skillfully made propoganda? Wow, hadn’t thought of the book or movie that way, but it’s very enlightening, thanks.

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Exactly how do you know this? Friends? Were you in his unit?

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Read my earlier post. Things that he said happened to him were already urban legends in the Corps by the time he served.

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BTW, we sent tons of vodka to my the boyfriend durning Bush Family War I. Not so much porn, but I know his buddy used to send porn all the time, using the same methods, taping over a movie. It turns out, everyone I know who had family over, was sending booze and porn.

I really didn’t think Swofford calimed he was there, if I remember correctly, he just calimed it happen, not that he saw it. Also, snopes doesn’t affirm or deny that it happened or not.

Were you in the war?

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Sorry that last post was so disjointed, I got called away.

I was referring to the porn/wife thing when I was saying Swofford wasn’t there. Anyway, I don’t understand why you’re so hostile toward the book/movie. Swofford was a Marine, he was in the snipers, and he did go to the war. So you think he’s lying. Your fact for believing that he’s lying is from other Marines, who could just have well been lying. Be that as it may, isn’t exaggerating just part of story-telling?

I have no idea why you think he hates the Marine Corps. For gods sakes, it’s Marines who gave it the nick-name “the suck”. Just because he’s not rah-rah about it doesn’t mean he doesn’t like it. He claimed in an interview that he liked it. I suppose since you think he’s pathological though, that must be a lie also.

It sounds to me that you don’t particularly like his politics, and you’re making it personal.

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Yes, I was, and I had several friends in the Army and one in the Marines during the war. As I already said, yes, some people snuck alcohol into Saudi Arabia, but not in the massive quantities portrayed in the book. And the key was, you NEVER EVER did what they did in the book and gathered it all together in one place and had a party. Everything was done on the QT and if it wasn’t, you paid the price.

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I just got done reading the book and there is not a large amount of alcohol or porn mentioned. It is mentioned, but it hardly seems ubiquitous.