Jarhead






Director - Sam Mendes

Genre - Biography/Drama/War


A stark and cynically-tinged war movie directed by Sam Mendes. Peppered throughout with moments of tar-black humor, it serves as a critically condemning statement on the war in Iraq. Going into Saddam Hussein's country, a group of foot soldiers are eager to do battle and make their country proud. Instead, contemporary warfare renders them almost obsolete and they begin to lose hope fast. Aided with immeasurable competence by cinematographer Roger Deakins, this stunning picture is incredulously underrated and overlooked.

4.5 STARS!

All about Jarhead

Comments

Shubhajit said…
Wow, you are watching a movie everyday or what? You've really stepped up the gas and have made the job all the more difficult for guys like us! ;) Got to watch this one.

I have a querry, is this blog maintained by one guy or a team? Asking cos in your reviews as well as comments, i've noticed that you always use "we" in place of "I".
August 13, 2008 at 3:11 AM
Joel Bocko said…
I don't know if I agree about the film being anti-war on Iraq - I think it's more agnostic, letting us draw our own conclusions - but I'm thrilled you liked it. I thought this was one of the best films of 2005, and it's a shame it was easily shrugged off (for what it's worth I liked it better, and found it more interesting - than American Beauty but it seems like for many critics & filmgoers he hasn't been able to do anything right since).
August 13, 2008 at 7:25 AM
1minutefilmreview said…
Hi Shubhajit, the reason we've been able to put up more reviews compared to you now is entirely due to one simple factor. Your reviews are longer and therefore take more time to write. More words would need, similarly, more time to edit and peruse over before posting.

On the issue of whether we're one or more than one? We're not telling. It serves our purpose to a larger extent if we remain anonymous and uncategorized in every way. :)
August 13, 2008 at 9:20 AM
1minutefilmreview said…
Hi Movieman0283, thanks for your comment.

We totally agree that it was unfairly dismissed. There are however three reasons which we believe caused its downfall.
1) Jake Gyllenhaal. Come on...has he got a hit to his name yet? 'Donnie Darko' was a cult hit. Not a financial or award-winning hit.
2) The 'B-Movie' title. Sounds like the elder brother of 'Eraserhead'.
3) War movies are always a risk. And this is a war movie almost stripped of any action scenes.
August 13, 2008 at 10:01 AM
Joel Bocko said…
Yes, I can see why it wasn't a hit but I still find it curious that it was mostly overlooked by critics (dismissed by some, mildly praised by others before moving on). I remember finding it more satisfying and complete than Brokeback Mountain or Crash at the time.
August 13, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Ed Howard said…
Yea, I thought this was quite good and very unfairly overlooked. It was great to see a war movie that defies expectations by stripping away nearly all the action scenes. Counterintuitively, it really drives home the purposelessness and absurdity of war in a way that some more gory and violent films haven't.
August 15, 2008 at 8:50 AM
David N said…
I think the main reason it wasn't a hit was that it was marketed like a "normal" War movie, as if it was a combat-centric "Black Hawk Down" type movie, or an anti-War "Platoon" style exercise.

When in fact its a strangely poetic and unique little story of the inbetween moments in War, the "off-beat" instances.

So it did good early business but then word-of-mouth (i.e. "Its not a gung ho action fest") dissuaded people from seeing it. A shame.
August 20, 2008 at 6:05 AM
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