Jarhead

Review by Clint Morris

Like taking a celibate young girl to the drive-in on an overcast night, you’re really only setting yourself up for disappointment with Jarhead. 

Not to say it’s not a good film, it most certainly is, but when you consider the cast and crew – Oscar Winners Sam Mendes, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Oscar Nominee Jake Gyllenhaal – you’re almost expecting the chassis to rock, the demister to be on high, and the seats to be wound back as far as they go. 

Instead, you'll have a pleasant time – but nothing worth bragging about to the guys back home the next day.

If you go into Mendes’ (American Beauty) new film not expecting to see an epic that’ll have the members of the Academy in awe, then you’ll most certainly enjoy what’s on offer. Based on marine Anthony Swofford’s autobiography, it’s a dramedy about a group of young men (Gyllenhaal as Swofford) stationed in Iraq during the Gulf War. Most of them are raring to go, but action is something little of them will see. In fact, the only kill they’ll get is a desert scorpion.

Jarhead is as different a war film as you could possibly imagine. Not only does it not pick sides – some will appreciate the all-round sympathetic nature of the film – but it largely centres on the lead-up to the war, the training and so on, rather than the bloody battle itself. (In this case, the Gulf War was essentially over before it started – well, the battle aspect of it anyway – so most of these men were never going to see much of a skirmish anyway).

Affect this war did though – it was the start of the end for some men, the starting mark for some other’s psychological downfalls, and the place where some realised their purpose in life…. might never come in use.

Like most of Mendes’ films, Jarhead is not exactly an exceptionally gripping film – it’s the kind of film that you can easily take a loo break in – but it is a very admirable one. The performances are outstanding, the writing is impeccable, and the cinematography – the scenes where the enemy lights up the oil mines are superb – is resplendently A-grade.

You mightn’t want to go steady with it, but you won’t look back in discontent on the night you met Jarhead.

3.5 out of 5

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