0
0
Rating: 4 out of 5
I grew up in Beaufort, SC, right next to the Marine Corps recruiting base, Parris Island. My dad served in the Marine Corps for twenty-seven years while ultimately gaining the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. When talking about this film, I wanted to know more about what my dad went through. He explained that he got his draft letter and reported to good ole Parris Island as a bright-eyed eighteen-year-old. He left five siblings to serve his country and thought the war would be over by the time boot camp was over.
I asked my dad about his time during boot camp and how was it, since that is the most entertaining section of this film. As he stated in his opening, “Bootcamp was intense. It was hard for everyone.” I asked my dad to give me some of his stories. He explained that his drill instructor, Sergeant Bernier, was a certified nut and that he talked about everyone in your family. As he stated, “Sergeant Bernier called me a f***ing worm every day I trained.” I also asked my dad what his most challenging moment was. He said, “I had many, but the one that comes to mind was when I had to do the Slide of Life. There was a mud pit underneath the rope. My drill instructor asked me a question when I was at the top. Well, when a drill instructor asks you a question, for you to answer, you had to stand at attention. As I answered, he yelled at me because I wasn’t standing at attention, and he told me to get in position. I fell straight down into the mud pit.” When my father finally got to graduation, he explained that his drill instructor beat him up. “I was walking out of the PX and had my hat cocked to the side. My drill instructor saw me and said to meet him at his house. I get there, and he beat me up.
Directed, produced, and screenplay written by Stanley Kubrick, Kubrick presents an intense, hard-ass, tough as steel view of the basic training and fighting of the Marines during the Vietnam War. The story follows the thoughts and experiences of smart-ass Private Davis (Matthew Modine) as he enters the basic training of the United States Marine Corps. After his head is shaven, he is quickly introduced to the most foul-mouthed, intense, don’t take shit from no one, Drill Instructor Hartman (R. Lee Ermey). Davis quickly gains the name “Joker” from his drill instructor for telling an unwanted joke and being on the receiving end of a well-placed punch to the stomach. Also, in the training barracks is pudgy Private Lawrence (Vincent D’Onofrio), nicknamed “Gomer Pyle.” Basic training is extreme and strict as Hartman quickly transforms his grunts into the Marines they should be, or as he says, “Killing machines.” Things rapidly go sideways as Pyle quickly becomes the target of Hartman and his squad’s attack until finally, things come ahead. Joker manages to graduate and is sent to Vietnam as a journalist. Joker covers the war as he soon becomes engulfed in the ways of his new life. The means of war, death, and suffering.
Kubrick presents his Vietnam War film in two stories. One of the basic training and then the actual war. Now, the basic training was absolutely the best part of this whole film. It honestly set the tone for the first half of the film. As the cadets get their head shaves, your like okay; this isn’t too bad. When R. Lee Ermey comes on screen as Drill Instructor Hartman, and he begins his opening speech, that is when you know the cadets are about to be in a new world. Their drill instructor is absolutely insane and shouldn’t be messed with. The drill instructor pushes his men literally to their absolute limits. He doesn’t seem to have a shred of sympathy for them because he knows he must make them into “killing machines.” Yet, Kubrick shows that not everyone is cut out mentally and physically for the Corps. He presents this with Private Pyle. Drill Instructor Hartman rides and scolds Private Pyle every chance he gets because Private Pyle is the weak link in his Corps. One that messes up over and over again. Things come ahead when finally everyone has it with Private Pyle. The recruits restrain Private Pyle to his bunk and beat him with soap wrapped in socks. It is an intense scene because this was the breaking point for Private Pyle. Kubrick shows his transformation from a laughable person to one who becomes engulfed in the world of the Corps. His mind becomes lost as he becomes what Hartman wants him to be “a killing machine.” Things come ahead when Pyle just freakin loses it completely.
Now, I must say, after that intense basic training for the first half of the movie, the movie completely switches gears to almost a calm undertone. I was very unimpressed with the second half of the film because it took so long to get going. It ultimately lost me because we go to war, but the sense of war was not intense. Just the overall tone was off, and the intensity seemed to be lost during the second half of the film. The main character, Joker, seemed too laid back in his new environment as a journalist. We get a small skirmish during one of the opening moments in the second half of the movies. The reason for this is Joker is mocked for his lack of the “thousand-yard stare,” and we’re left wondering if Joker will ever achieve this “thousand-yard stare.” The film feels like a mini rollercoaster with small pockets of “fighting” that shows how Vietnam is like. Joker requests to see some action, so he rides in this helicopter, and the gunman is shooting people as they fly by. You’re like, “Okay, this dude is crazy, and he is shooting people for no apparent reason.” Yet, the movie takes almost a small party feel as Joker meets his new squad as they pick up prostitutes and take pictures with dead soldiers. Through all this, Kubrick ends his film with what the second half should’ve been, a very intense scene where Joker and his squad are pinned down a sniper. This is when shit hit the fan because people are getting shot, and you wonder if anyone was going to make it out. Yet the scene turns very dark in the cover of darkness as the “thousand-yard stare” becomes apparent in Joker’s face.
Even with the story lacking in the second half, the best part of the whole entire film was the performance by R. Lee Ermey. Yes, Matthew Modine was good, but it was nothing compared to Ermey. When Ermey walked through the door and gave his opening monologue as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, he commanded the screen. Like any Gunnery Sergeant would do, he commands, “I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on, you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be “Sir.” Do you maggots understand that?” Let’s be real, the only reason this movie is so good is the insults that Ermey lays out. They are absolutely PRICELESS. Holy S**t were they so good. Here is a small fact: Ermey improvised all his lines. Just letting his mouth run, and you can tell he got into it. If you are not convinced, here are some of my favorites:
- “Five-foot-nine, I didn’t know they stacked s**t that high!”
- “I bet you’re the kind of guy that would f**k a person in the a** and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around.”
- “Bulls**t. I bet you could suck a golf ball through a garden hose.”
Matthew Modine, as Joker was okay. Since the movie went through his perception, you almost had to deal with him. He played the typical Marine in war. One thing I didn’t like about him was he seemed to have this tremendous sense of not superiority but entitlement. He joins the military but wears a peace sign lapel while taking photographs of dead bodies. Modine plays his role well but nothing compared to Ermey. Modine plays second fiddle to Ermey. Vincent D’Onofrio as Private Leonard “Gomer Pyle” Lawrence is another person that carries the find. He is the perfect opposite to Ermey as he is the screw-up who you don’t think can hack it as a Marine. Just the transformation that Kubrick shows with this character is truly amazing. D’Onofrio does a masterful job showing the effects that a person takes. When he finally snaps and is in the bathroom, just that smile and look is insane. Truly terrifying.
Kubrick displays a type of mastery and should be commended for his direction and cinematography. The most intense scenes of training and war and somehow wrap it in a calm display of art and sound through the minds of the soldiers while showing the effects of training and war on a person. One way Kubrick does this is with the failures of Private Pyle. Private Pyle is a big-time screw-up. Kubrick shows his most significant failure to his squad in a slow-motion run with his team. As they run through the mud and water, Private Pyle falls, making everyone else fall to the ground. You almost know it was coming through the words of Joker.
The slow-motion scene added to the effect. That one scene sets up the beating scene, which finally makes Pyle snap. Another way the film truly gets to know is when Joker and his squad are talking over a recently deceased soldier. The way the scene is shot through the viewpoint of the dead soldier, as it seems to be looking up and moving to each person as they talk. The final way Kubrick shows his art and he freakin does it all the time is taking a song that you like and then making it into something totally different. He does this with the “Mickey Mouse March.” The soldiers have killed the sniper, and they begin their march to the next destination. As they march, they sing the Mickey Mouse March. After a violent act and buildings burning, that is the song they sing in total darkness. Damn you, Kubrick.
The movie is excellent in many ways but ultimately falls off in the second half of the film. Ermey does a masterful job as the drill instructor. His dialogue, tone, and over demeanor made the film worthwhile and would make any drill instructor proud. The training is a powerful tool showing what Marines might go through. Yet out of a strong start, the film fails in maintaining a way to keep audiences engaged until the very end.
