Genre: Action, War, Drama
Tagline: Welcome To The Suck
Plot: Jarhead (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows "Swoff" (Gyllenhaal), a third-generation enlistee, from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound ruck on his back through Middle East deserts with no cover from intolerable heat or from Iraqi soldiers, always potentially just over the next horizon. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they don't fully fathom.Sergeant Sykes (Foxx), a Marine lifer who heads up Swofford's scout/sniper platoon, while Swoff's friend and mentor, Troy (Sarsgaard), is a die-hard member of STA-their elite Marine Unit. An irreverent and true account of a war that was antiseptically packaged a decade
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 Jarhead is compelling in the way it presents a new facet of a genre that some would argue was mined out long ago.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
It is not often that a movie catches exactly what it was like to be this person in this place at this time, but "Jarhead" does. They say a story can be defined by how its characters change. For the rest of his life, Swofford tells us, whether he holds itor not, his rifle will always be a part of his body. It wasn't like that when the story began. --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
This is not a film that wrestles with itself to determine whether it's anti- or pro-war, or whether the dehumanization that the military wreaks on its soldiers is worthwhile; it doesn't even try.  --Chris Barsanti
The oil fires are only part of what make Jarhead, if not a classic war film, at least a top-notch and engrossing imitation of one.  --Eric Meyerson (FilmCritic.com)
Jarhead is a good, smart film. It brilliantly recreates an experience without romanticizing it or succumbing to melodrama. --Julian Roman (MovieWeb)
This isn't your father's war flick, folks. It's a new world, with new war that needs a new war movie. Jarhead is the first entry into that genre, and it's spectacular from both ends of the camera.  --Brian Gallagher (MovieWeb)
To have sentimentalized the military experience in JARHEAD would not have been true to the material at all, but to leave the audience on the outside looking in undercuts the impact the story could have had.  --Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews)
“Jarhead” isn’t an easy film to shake off – and that’s a good thing. It’ll stick with you no matter whether you’re anti-war or pro-military or consider yourself to be stuck smack dab in the middle of the road. “Jarhead” will be a different experience forevery moviegoer, but one that’s equally entertaining to sit through no matter what your political leanings. A---Rebecca Murray
But this is straight and true evidence that without a good script, a film can only achieve so much, and Jarhead just doesn’t have one. And so, all the talent involved in the film is left trying to make up the difference, instead of adding to the cause. Of course, there are those of you who will only go to the movie to see Jake Gyllenhaal’s torso, and, for you, the film will not disappoint. --Paul Bryant (eFilmCritic.com)
Ultimately, most viewers will be bored by the lack of onscreen action (much like Swofford and his fellow Marines) or frustrated by the limited, ground-level view of the First Gulf War and it’s seemingly tenuous link to the 2003 invasion and current occupation of Iraq... "Jarhead" plays the “war is absurd” theme, but offers few insights into modern warfare or the American soldiers who have to fight modern wars. --Mel Valentin (eFilmCritic.com)
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| Directed by |
Sam Mendes
American Beauty, Road to Perdition, The 59th Annual Golden Globe Awards |
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Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, Lost Souls, Tremors 4: The Legend Begins | | |
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| Music By |
Thomas Newman
The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, The Green Mile |
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‘Jarhead’ reaches its crescendo when Operation Desert Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm. I won’t reveal what happens, but let’s just say it’s not the type of climax commonly shown in war movies. ‘Jarhead’ manages to avoid clichés, remain entrancing, and present a side of war never offered before by Hollywood: a side that hundreds of thousands of American troops are experiencing right now.  --Uri Lessing (eFilmCritic.com)
This movie, which, fortunately, does not seem to have a leftwing Hollywood political agenda, aided by a believable performance by Gyllenhall, does a good job of scratching the surface of what it might be like to be a Marine on war duty. 8/10--Tony Medley
When all is said and done Jarhead must be a heavy recommendation, if only to clarify what's important to you and how you view the human struggle. I take no joy in knowing you may walk away scratching your head or looking for a bar but we both knew you'd have to grow up eventually. Welcome to the suck. A---Laremy Legel
Right now you’re really annoyed with my vagueness but Jarhead is a really hard movie to describe without disclosing too much. It’s a movie you just have to see and then we can discuss. I don’t think there is anything I can say that would make it more appealing than the trailer already does. If you didn’t like the trailer I can assure you that this is not your type of movie. A---Alexis Tuminello (TheCinemaSource)
Jarhead is incredible. Broyles’ screenplay provides for a terrific story seen through first person narrative, and Sam Mendes has turned Swofford’s own vision into a beautiful looking movie. Led off by a strong performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, Jarhead has a tremendous cast... The dialogue is terrific, and the narrative is almost poetic, and though this depicts the first Gulf War, we should not forget Swofford’s words that “every war is different, every war is the same. 9/10--Sam Bear
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