DVD | Jarhead

Rating: R16 - Contains Violence, Offensive Language & Sex Scenes.
Duration: 124 mins.
Genre : Military Drama.
Actors: Dennis Haysbert, Chris Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jacob Vargas, Peter Sarsgaard, Katherine Randolph.
Release Date: Available now.

Jarhead is the story of Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) who joined the Marines because he ‘got lost on the way to college’. We follow as he goes from regret and despair to finding his place in the marines as a sniper.

Then the first Gulf War breaks out, and it’s off to the desert. But the war doesn’t happen, well at least not for a couple of hundred days. Swofford’s life (and the life of his fellow marines) becomes a pointless monotony to the point of absurd. We see what happens as these men, dehumanised through training to become ruthless killing machines, are given nothing to do, bar play football in chemical suits for the media.

When the war does come to them, it’s over so quickly that they don’t even get to fire a single shot.

And if you think that Swofford would have found the whole uneventful time an utter waste of his life, you’ll be commiserating with him as you contemplate what you could have done with the past 124 minutes of yours.

This was (as far as I can remember) supposed to be a black comedy. There were some very funny moments, but for the most part the movie was long and uneventful. Sure the scenery was at time spectacular – the burning oil fields were a visual treat – but the journey was far too dull to be worth the ticket price.

Maybe I was missing the subtleties of an anti-war message?

One thing you absolutely have to do (if you do rent jarhead) is check out Swoff's Fantasies, part of the special features. Why these were not in the film I don’t know – it would have made the whole affair a whole lot funnier.

One thing to beware of though, if you have an aversion to the f-word, stay clear of Jarhead – the marines have few adjectives outside of the f-word, and use it to the point of banality.

Food for thought
Innocent people always get killed in war – how do we justify supporting war when we know innocent lives will have to be sacrificed?