Full Metal Jacket Blu-ray delivers stunning video and solid audio in this must-own Blu-ray release
The story of an 18-year-old marine recruit named Private Joker - from his carnage-
and-machismo boot camp to his climactic involvement in the heavy fighting in Hue
during the 1968 Tet Offensive.
You're so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece!
Ugly? This movie is anything but. Sure, on the surface it's very ugly. The language, the nonstop
torturous physical training, and the war can be and often is ugly and disgusting. Stanley Kubrick's
Full Metal Jacket is
such a beautifully crafted movie, however, that it really is a modern art masterpiece of film.
Platoon may have
walked away with the Oscars, but Full Metal Jacket is, bar none, the definitive Vietnam War
movie.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy this fine film!
One of the many beautiful things about this movie is that it is more than a Vietnam war movie.
Like The Deer Hunter, the first half of the film deals with life away from the war. In the
case of The Deer Hunter, a group of friends from Western Pennsylvania experience the
fullness of life hunting deer and attending a wedding before heading for the jungles of Vietnam.
In
Full Metal Jacket, the first shot of the film is of fresh recruits having their heads shaved
as they enter boot camp, the
first step in dehumanizing them in order to rebuild them from the ground up (or maybe from the
head down) to be U.S. Marines. Other films such as Apocalypse Now and
Platoon
drop the viewer in-country from the get-go.
Full Metal Jacket is, on the surface, the story of Private Joker (Matthew Modine), a raw
recruit whose journey takes him from boot camp at Parris Island to Hue City in Vietnam as a
reporter for Stars and Stripes, and smack-dab in the middle of the Tet Offensive. This
was a
massive and coordinated
North Vietnamese attack on every American installation in the country
during
the famous Vietnamese holiday that is like "the Fourth of July, Christmas, and New Year all rolled
into one." While at Parris Island, Private Joker is introduced to three crucial characters--Private
Cowboy (Arliss Howard), Private Pyle (Vincent D'Onforio in one of the most memorable roles in
film history), and Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey, also as one of film's most memorable
characters). Private Pyle is an overweight recruit who is finding adapting to the rigors of Marine
Corps training painful and near impossible. It's Sgt. Hartman's job to get him into combat shape,
and he uses every means at his disposal to accomplish this task including some of the foulest
language you will ever hear, physical punishment, and finally blaming the platoon for Pyle's
shortcomings. He also turns to Joker to mentor Pyle and attempt the impossible--to turn him
into a lean, mean, green killing machine. By the end of boot camp, Pyle is indeed a killing
machine, leading to a chilling, all-time classic movie confrontation.
Once in Vietnam, Joker and his photographer, Rafterman (Kevyn Major Howard), are sent to the
front lines to cover the Tet Offensive and the U.S. counterattack near the Perfume River. It is
here that he is reunited with Cowboy and is introduced to his squad mates, EightBall (Dorian
Harewood) and Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin). On patrol in the city, the squad ends up lost and
comes under fire from a sniper, causing panic and the deaths of several Marines.
I have always found the theme of the movie to revolve round Joker's statement regarding the
"duality of man." He wears a peace symbol on his body armor while "Born to Kill" is written on
his helmet. The entire film is a study in duality. The film is divided into two distinct halves, each
its own story including an exposition, a climax, and a dénouement. The characters themselves,
especially upon arrival in Vietnam, are almost bipolar; they are trained killers on one hand, but
the harshness of boot camp and the war has not completely removed from them their sense of
humanity and camaraderie, though we see glimpses of lost sanity including a scene where the
corpse of a
Vietnamese soldier is the "guest of honor" at a party. Even Animal Mother, the gung-ho, M-60
wielding, shoot anything that moves (or doesn't), vicious killer foregoes his own safety and
concern for self above all else that he displayed earlier in the film to rescue fallen Marines who
have become victims of the sniper. The score too plays a part in this case study. Upbeat, hip
tunes of the 1960s play over the more agreeable and lighter moments in the film, but an
industrial sounding, heavy, creepy, metallic sounding score foreshadows scenes of impending
peril. The film ends as Marines walk out of the city where they have seen dozens of their friends
killed singing the Mickey Mouse Club song, reverting to a childlike sense of indifference or
mentally blocking the death and destruction they are leaving behind. This film is a masterpiece
on so many levels, everything about it is right. Many Marines have commented that this film,
above all others, most accurately represents what life in the Marine Corps and in war is all about.
No film could garner higher praise than that.
This presentation of Full Metal Jacket is extraordinary. I've never seen this film in
anything but a
4:3 presentation (which is the way Kubrick intended his films to be shown on home video), but
the
new, 1080p theatrical wide 1.85:1 version looks so much more natural. As today's home theater
systems are able to more closely replicate the theatrical experience, presenting this disc in its
theatrical aspect ratio rather than the home video 4:3 version is not a decision I am disappointed
with.
I don't have the old Blu-ray edition to compare this to, but from what I
understand
it's not a good looking transfer. Even without a direct comparison to the old Blu-ray, I have seen
this film countless times on VHS and DVD. This is the best I have ever seen it, bar none. This is
a
very lifelike image. I didn't notice any noise except in a few darker scenes, and even that was
miniscule. There are no noticeable specs or dirt on the print. The image is sharp and clear and
there is no edge enhancement to be seen. I'm simply ecstatic to have this film looking this good
on
Blu-ray. This is not a picture that will "pop" off your screen, but the source is in such good shape
and is so crystal clear, that this is certainly a joy to behold for a longtime fan of this movie. You
won't find Full Metal Jacket looking better anywhere else.
This is a good sounding track. Warner Brothers presents Full Metal Jacket with a 5.1 PCM
uncompressed track along with the old standby, the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. There is not a lot of
active surround sound during the first half of the film, but it certainly works well. Echos inside the
barracks sound great. Bass heavy militaristic marching music sounds wonderful, as if it is being
played by a live band in your living room. It is crisp and clean. Once the action switches to
Vietnam, surrounds get much more active in the action sequences. Explosions and gunfire fill the
room, immersing the viewer in the fighting. The "industrial," bass heavy, bearer-of-dread score for
the combat and intense Parris Island scenes mixed in with popular music from the era for the more
relaxed scenes works remarkably well in this film.
There are two primary supplements on this disc: a documentary and a feature commentary track
with Adam Baldwin
(Animal Mother), Vincent D'onofrio (Private Pyle), Lee Ermey (Gunnery Sergeant Hartman), and
Screenwriter/Author Jay Cocks. This commentary track is rather incongruous. Each participant
recorded
alone
and it never really flows. There is some good information here, but I must admit I was
disappointed
by the flow. Vincent D'Onofrio is the best participant of the bunch. He hangs around even after
his
character is no longer in the movie. He offers impressive insights into acting and the doors this
film
opened for him as an actor, the mind of Kubrick and his approach to the making of the film, and
reaction to the film and his character from family, friends, critics, and the public at large.
Full Metal Jacket: Between Good and Evil (480p, 30:49) is a look into Stanley Kubrick
and
his film. This feature delves into the inspiration for the film (namely the book Short
Timers
by Gustav Hasford) and the effect of other Vietnam movies (namely Apocalypse Now)
coming out as Kubrick was deciding to
make the film. The casting of Matthew Modine, Vincent D'onofrio,
and Lee Ermey is discussed at leangth. Vincent D'onofrio is genuinely grateful to Kubrick and this
role, crediting him
with
advancing his film career. Also discussed is filming in East London, and the challenge of making
London look like Hue City in Vietnam, and an alternate ending that was discussed but never
filmed. This is a solid documentary and is not to be missed by fans of this film.
Finally, Warner Brothers has included a theatrical trailer for this film, presented in 480p.
The debate will always rage as to which film is the best of the Vietnam war movies, but my money
remains on Full Metal Jacket. Stanley Kubrick's phenomenal direction on top of several
unforgettable characters make this a must see and a must own. This Blu-ray release is a
remarkable upgrade from any version I have ever seen both visually and sonically. I wish there was
more in the way of supplements, but what we get is good. This disc gets my highest
recommendation.
All countries
