I was able to see Jarhead tonight at 10pm because my roomate works at AMC, so we are sometimes able to see the employee screenings.
Here is my review.
For those of you who are hoping to see a movie about a war, a movie where bullets fly and whiz, peircing through skulls and pulling brains and blood out with them, you're in for a dissapointment. This isn't that kind of movie.
It is a movie about your average joe made into a military man. This movie follows this guy for the entire movie, never leaving his side but for a brief moment. We see what he sees, go where he goes, and see the subtle changes in his mind, his ego, and even his stance as he becomes a real soldier.
The Gulf War wasn't a war, so much as it was a conflict. A brief conflict. And that's what you see. This is more about the characters.
All those stories about how leaving your home for a year or more, digging trenches to sleep in, walking in the dark (drenched in oil), and wondering if your girlfriend is still waiting for you back home...are there. You see what it means to go to war.
*****small visual spoiler****
The visuals are great. They give true justice to the time and the story of the people. There was one scene where you see fire shooting up from the Earth in the distance, causing a storm of oil to begin. The rain is literally oil. One marine turns to another and says "The Earth's bleedin'! It's bleedin' all over us!"
*****end spoiler******
Again, don't see this movie in hopes that a lot of people are gonna die. Don't go in thinking that you'll see a bunch of iraqis go down. There's death, but this isn't a war movie.
It's a movie about a man in a war, and what it's like to be a soldier.
PM's rating:
Story: 8/10
Visuals: 10/10
Direction: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Overall: 8/10