Change Your Image
mgoldsmith
Reviews
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
War as the art of imposing order on chaos.
As a preface: this will be an abstract review. As others have pointed out, this film is not especially plot-oriented, but moves from scene to scene as, plausibly, the transition from training to being stationed to boredom to combat and all the ephemera in between would actually play out for a soldier as subject.
Instead, this movie for me functions primarily as a thought experiment. You're young, say 18 years old. You enter the Marines. A thought process, a worldview is imposed onto you. You accept it because you see the harsh consequences that happen to those who resist. You try to maintain individuality throughout, though this is expressed mainly in admissible, largely futile symbolic gestures.
Training is over. You live a strangely divorced, comfortable life, stationed in an area where there is a civil war going on and unfortunates on both sides are dying every day. Now and then, you see inexplicable atrocities. When in the midst of them, you do not think of your side's role in creating geopolitical strategems or polemics, or who is right or wrong, or what your country is doing there in the first place, or... any number of possible questions. You understand that for survival's sake, you will function like those around you, serving your side. At this point, you are capable of anything, in the name of your own self-interest.
This, it seems to me, the movie believes is the nature of war. The cause may be damnable or noble, but the role of the soldier is the same. He is thrust into forces beyond his control and asked to do the unthinkable, for reasons beyond him.
(As a tangent, it's refreshing to me that this movie does not rehash the historical context, the protests, the question of administrative responsibility... but is also not a simply minded combat and conquest flick. Partially for this reason, it strikes me as being the most appreciative of the plight of the soldier while being against the ignobilities of war of any film I have seen to date.) Kubrick is a master, but on the other hand, I appreciate the fact that this isn't a director's movie. It is definitely not as imagistically heavy handed as 2001, Clockwork Orange or The Shining. The ideas in it can be savored by most anyone coming at it from pretty much any viewpoint.
Southland Tales (2006)
Not as bad as you've heard... never would have done well
This movie, maybe more than any other I've seen, is a commitment. If you think that 144 minutes is a lot to commit to a movie, the running time is only the tip of the iceberg.
In the DVD cut of the movie, a lot of things are obscured: what the big picture is, why characters are motivated to do certain things, why multiple identities are a recurring theme, why certain characters/actions are necessary.
What is in the DVD cut is an extensively detailed alternate world. Unfortunately, to make the actions in that alternate world make sense, you basically have to either watch the movie multiple times, or at least know what you're dealing with.
There are at least 4 layers to everything that's going on: 1) political/social commentary on contemporary American society and the apocalyptic undercurrent therein; 2) sarcastic/caustic pop culture references (Philip K. Dick is a big one, but also subtle things... for instance, the Rock was Sean William Scott's protector in "The Rundown" and plays a similar role here); 3) a self-consciousness or self-referentialism: actors cast against type, some similar themes to Donnie Darko, actions that play out in the film are largely based off of the AWFUL screenplay written by one of the characters (as seen in the graphic novel prequels); 4) the actual plot of the movie, which has deep ties to the Book of Revelation, and makes much more sense if the graphic novels are read first.
These layers are pretty consummately intertwined. This is part of what makes this movie to be compelling enough to make me want to put in the necessary effort. Its imagery was provocative, and because Richard Kelly has created such a densely layered world for himself, putting in the time actually is incredibly rewarding.
It should also be said that this film, like Blade Runner or There Will Be Blood, does not let its plot set specifications on its scope, or what it's about. If you hone in on what the director thinks its scope/purpose is, it's much easier to appreciate.
I'm not sure exactly how to rate this movie, since as a stand alone movie it is a failure, but if you take the time to get inside Kelly's mind, it's worthwhile. So. My advice? View it as an investment or don't view it at all. Don't throw it on for an evening's entertainment. If you do, you might be entertained, but you'll probably be confused and angry.