- Joined
- Jul 3, 2010
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Let's talk about Full Metal Jacket.
I'll cut to the chase. When considered as a whole, it is in the running for my least favorite Kubrick film.
I could watch the first half over and over again. If I had to watch the first AND second half, I'll decline the whole thing.
The first half of this film is absolutely fantastic. The second half of this film is barely even average. The second half of this film I consider to be inferior to Hamburger Hill, let alone Platoon.
With the first half of this film, Kubrick made the definitive movie about bullying. It's a masterpiece. I wish the movie had ended there, because once Matthew Modine ships off to Vietnam, the film has a number of issues.
His time in the press office is boring, and allows the more annoying aspects of his character to shine through.
Once he's in the field, it was obvious that it wasn't shot in Vietnam or anything like it. It looked like some deserted British cement factory with three palm trees stuck there to pass it off as Southeast Asia. It didn't have the feel of Vietnam at all, and I was surprised a perfectionist like Kubrick would fail in presenting his setting, given how masterfully he has done that in the past.
The portion with the interviews of the platoon where they are talking to the camera...it's terrible. It's filler. It's the worst few minutes of any Kubrick film ever, hands down.
What does this boring, static scene add for the characters that wasn't shown in or couldn't have been added through the characters interacting with each other? It was really important to show how these guys act when they know they're on camera?
Once they're dealing with the sniper, the quality picks up again, though nowhere near the level of the first half in boot camp.
I think the third quarter of this film is Kubrick's worst work of his career. It's unfortunate that it's included in the same film as the first half of the movie.
I'll cut to the chase. When considered as a whole, it is in the running for my least favorite Kubrick film.
I could watch the first half over and over again. If I had to watch the first AND second half, I'll decline the whole thing.
The first half of this film is absolutely fantastic. The second half of this film is barely even average. The second half of this film I consider to be inferior to Hamburger Hill, let alone Platoon.
With the first half of this film, Kubrick made the definitive movie about bullying. It's a masterpiece. I wish the movie had ended there, because once Matthew Modine ships off to Vietnam, the film has a number of issues.
His time in the press office is boring, and allows the more annoying aspects of his character to shine through.
Once he's in the field, it was obvious that it wasn't shot in Vietnam or anything like it. It looked like some deserted British cement factory with three palm trees stuck there to pass it off as Southeast Asia. It didn't have the feel of Vietnam at all, and I was surprised a perfectionist like Kubrick would fail in presenting his setting, given how masterfully he has done that in the past.
The portion with the interviews of the platoon where they are talking to the camera...it's terrible. It's filler. It's the worst few minutes of any Kubrick film ever, hands down.
What does this boring, static scene add for the characters that wasn't shown in or couldn't have been added through the characters interacting with each other? It was really important to show how these guys act when they know they're on camera?
Once they're dealing with the sniper, the quality picks up again, though nowhere near the level of the first half in boot camp.
I think the third quarter of this film is Kubrick's worst work of his career. It's unfortunate that it's included in the same film as the first half of the movie.
