Reviews

One of the best early films to deal with AIDs and the powerful feelings that come up when one has to deal with it. The acting and the passion of the roles by the actors is very good, very intense. The love for life that comes through in the desperation of the main characters is beautiful. Lots of frustration and anger about having AIDs but ultimately the choice to fight to live comes through and this film was much ahead of it's American counterparts for the time. Most of the contemporary films in America were about the death and dying of people with Aids not the struggle to go on living and that's what sets this film apart from the others of it's time.

Highly recommended!!

Sean Penn was very good at acting right from the beginning we see in 'Bad Boys'; the lighting, the settings, the moral plays and urban ghetto youth themes are right for the times, a bit corny but the overall filmmaking is excellent and gives us a historical view of America that will soon be lost as we move on into the age of national id's and readers that will place us at the crime scene with every move we make. Violence won't disappear in Bush's and the Right Wing's 'Moral Society' but the ID process and ability to track everyone, with swift revenge by Bush's police state; along with incarcerating people in livestock cages or such... will forever change the face of 'law enforcement' as we knew it.

A very good piece of film history. The dvd release hasn't been digitally retouched but it's still nice viewing if soft and fuzzy, because of the acting and settings.

Esai Morales, Clancy Brown and the other supporting cast are very good at the stereotypes they play, Sean Penn stood out from the rest, even given the one-dimensional characters of all of them, and of course his few seconds of crying when he sees his battered girlfriend, and at the end are very well done.

Not the deepest movie, but very well done.

She wants him, he doesn't want her but is willing to use her for sex and comfort until he admits he likes it then she doesn't want him after chasing him to keep him available to use for cheap sex and intimacy.

Great film. These are the adult relationships we learned. We see them acted out in various versions around us, over and over again. The film is great in showing the dynamics of the human psyche being pretty screwed up because of cultural influences. Brando becomes the man who uses Schneider's character and then shows his hidden vulnerability; Schneider is pretty good at playing the spoilt rich brat who's touched more than she wants to be, but hard at the core anyway. That's everyone we know.

Shows how common misery is in all 'western societies'; nice cinematography all the dark sets and semi-gloomy atmospheres reflect very nicely the human themes of the film.

A classic.

This movie is very creative; interweaving the self-indulgence and self-awareness of Bob Fosse about his lifestyle and how it eventually wore him down through a too fast lifestyle. As story telling and film, you can get no better than this; it's creative in ways that not many american films ever attained.

Deep and real; dealing with human emotions in a very refreshing way. Shows how shallow american morals are; everyone's a bit of a hypocrite and Fosse was very good at it. I had never known Schieder was this good an actor; and haven't seen much of it from him since then.

Check this movie out, it touches you.

Not all the acting in this movie works, Paul Newman is too reserved in his acting at times and the others too; but then there are steady moments where the intelligent script addresses real issues about American Society.

Issues that are still relevant today. Chasing 'success' at what price; mixed feelings among all the players of the local play; natural attractions turning into betrayal and games. Every dumb thing that still goes on in relationships in our sadly repetitive american society.

If you haven't seen Paul Cox's film, 'A Woman's Tale'...see it. It's one of the best films ever made. Pure and simple.

Innocence is only a step behind that. Shows how our emotions never change, even in old age...the love, the passion, the jealousy, it's all there. Breaks many stereotypes about older people by showing them to be full of the same reactions we all are. Not just calm and quiet and 'respectful'...but human and full of a wide range of feelings.

GREAT FILM!!

Also see: 'Bliss' and 'Lantana' by the Australian Director Ray Lawrence if you want to know how good Australian films can be.

This movie was way ahead of it's time and able to show how empty life in western societies is; i.e.- how numb life in America is in 2003. It threatens viewers because it shows that the things we value the most are empty of real meaning because our lifestyles numb us out and make us into caricatures of human animals. While the acting is adequate by Sean Connery and Charlotte Rampling, it's the creative imagery that is astounding for 1974. Sit back and enjoy some mindbending conceptual imagery, ideas that were deep and perceptive, the prism certainly mimics how computers have taken over our lives and made us adrenalin addicted space cadets. Enjoy this film and wish that the crap coming out now was half as creative as this.

I'm a Vietnam Vet and this is a great documentary, shows how corrupt our American Society is, and always has been; the way we'll kill for money and/or religious reasons (which was what all the anti-communist fervor was then, just like all the anti-terrorist fervor is now). This shows you the insane 'hearts and minds' of the american boys fighting the war, and the more insane hearts and minds of the politicians that backed the war, in their own words, coming out of their own mouths. Shows you how the common person in Vietnam was routinely murdered anytime we thought there were any 'communists' in the neighborhood of any particular village; and how the pilots bombing them were numbed out shells of human beings 'just doing their jobs'. (in their own words).

Americans should take heed to how our American Capitalistic system teaches us to kill without mercy, women, children and innocent men, just like we're doing in Iraq right now; and just like we're supporting the fascist government of Ariel Sharon as he kills innocent women, men and children in Palestine/Israel.

America, change it or lose it!!

Of course, this is so far-fetched that a group of medical students would ever even have the spiritual curiosity to even wonder about life after death and explore it via near-death experience. Then to explore it using stolen equipment and having life-threatening experiences like these is doubly non-sequitur. But beyond this ludicrous setting is the idea that of course you find your own past waiting to come to terms with your present, waiting for you in your subconscious, if you dare to explore it.

Nice acting for such ludicrous roles. We all know preppie wanna be upper-class med students do nothing to threaten their status as doctors; that's the Dr. Frankenstein story but doesn't translate into modern medicine and the classists you'll find in any med school.

Creative fairytale, well worth watching and enjoying.

Having Lived through Vietnam, what impressed me the most about Full Metal Jacket was how realistic the sets and atmospheres of the devastated cities of Vietnam were.. the street scenes w/cars and motorcycles and prostitutes and pimps were also very realistic right down to a tee. The cabs weren't painted quite right, but close, the vehicular traffic was excellent, the painted facades of the stores and burnt out buildings was eerily accurate and really let's you see what it would have been like to walk patrol through a bombed out city in Vietnam, in that era.

It was quite truthfully very psychedelic and dream like. So many crazy things going on everywhere, and always the sound of gunfire and explosions in the distance, or at least many times..and those tracer bullets coming down along the perimeter at night from the helicopters pumping bullets into the barb wire perimeter to hit sappers.

Well done, good acting. There were many crazy characters running around Vietnam, I know I was one of them. The people that weren't trying to kill you, were overall, very nice, the extended family system they have is much healthier than the crazy nuclear family smith vs. jones thing we have going here.

A Great Movie.

It's amazing this film came out of the 50's. It's even more true today, than it was then, now things are so rigidly stratified in our society that people can't even relate to considering being a Workaholic anything other than 'worthwhile' and 'normal'. Rat Race lifestyle, is all America is about now. Misery, stress, alienation, isolation; great material wealth but a dysfunctional society that has made little robots and zombies out of each of us. Remember how vibrant you felt as a child, how full of wonder? Remember being excited about the chance to play with other kids? Now we dread every minute of our lifestyle, yet still smile and say "things are going okay" when asked. What liars we have become. A culture of liars and cruel, vicious people, with plastic smiles frozen on our faces and our deep heartache and longing hidden away. This film shows that America has been on the wrong path for a long time and it's only gotten worse. Great film!! Peck is adequate, but considering the times he lived in, a pretty good performance. It's the writing and the messages of this film that stand out!!

Anthony Hopkins shows why he's so good at understated characters that just loom large in their fumbling humanity. This film is creative with it's film technique and the shot of the kid trapped in the plastic film is so well-done and lyrical. Great movie.. See it if you can!!

Barry Otto should have won the Academy Award for his acting in this film. His transitions and quirkiness and humanness are beautifully crafted; everyone else is great too, the actors playing his wife, kids and 'Honey Barbara' are creative and colorful. This movie makes you laugh and cry and shudder with deep feelings!! My favorite all around film of all time. Deep and Funny!!

This is one of the BEST Low-budget Scifi-Horror Movies ever made. The creativity of the cast and crew to make a film that works so good, is impressive. Too bad the sequels with larger budgets aren't half as good, but this is a classic film in my opinion. Excellent acting by the kid and everybody.

The grainy black and white can't hide the beauty of this film. Luscious and dealing with the deepest human feelings of war and death and rebirth. This movie is one of the all time greatest ever made. If it doesn't touch your soul, you're missing out and must be numb, cause the acting and the passion and the deep feelings the whole cast puts into their roles is musical in it's beauty. The lush settings and the burmese culture stand out as a slice of history we shouldn't miss.

This film shows how violent and stupid our American Society is. That's why it threatens so many people who watch it. We see that our socio-legal economic system is dysfunctional and none of us usually even have the self-compassion to admit how much it hurts us. Watch this and learn about how sad AmeriKa is!!

A Great Film, the best by Roeg, deals with heavy issues and shows how beautiful the human spirit can be in the midst of pain..also how everyone is strong and weak. People both look horrible and beautiful and show themselves to be like us.

This movie is one of the greatest of all times, along with Chushingura, The Burmese Harp, Ken Russell's 'Women In Love' and the Aussie Movie, 'Bliss'(not american version).... Moves you and makes me glad to be alive, great acting, great film techniques, shows don't need a big budget to make a beautiful film above the crap from Hollywood.