Jarhead
- Director: Sam Mendes
- Writer: William Broyles Jr.; Anthony Swofford
- Producer: Bobby Cohen; Lucy Fisher
CGiii Comment
Faultless and beautiful cinematography...
When will homosexuality stop being used as a threat for cowardice?
And, when will personal testaments stop being so fucking false?
It comes over as dumb, macho knucklehead crap - but then, the US army has a major enrollment of prison fodder!
By stretching plausibility to the nth degree and, apart from it being too long, Mendes has missed the mark entirely - he focuses on the men rather than the situation...and, the men are - sadly - more embarrassing than interesting.
Boy racers and gamers will love it.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Anthony "Swoff" Swofford, a Camus-reading kid from Sacramento, enlists in the Marines in the late 1980s. He malingers during boot camp, but makes it through as a sniper, paired with the usually-reliable Troy. The Gulf War breaks out, and his unit goes to Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield. After 175 days of boredom, adrenaline, heat, worry about his girlfriend finding someone else, losing it and nearly killing a mate, demotion, latrine cleaning, faulty gas masks, and desert football, Desert Storm begins. In less than five days, it's over, but not before Swoff sees burned bodies, flaming oil derricks, an oil-drenched horse, and maybe a chance at killing. Where does all the testosterone go?
Cast & Characters
Jake Gyllenhaal as Anthony Swofford;
Scott MacDonald as D.I. Fitch;
Peter Sarsgaard as Alan Troy;
Jamie Foxx as Staff Sgt. Sykes;
Lo Ming as Bored Gunny;
Lucas Black as Chris Kruger;
Kevin Foster as Branded Marine;
Brian Geraghty as Fergus O'Donnell;
Damion Poitier as Poitier;
Riad Galayini as Nurse;
Craig Coyne as Young Mr. Swofford;
Katherine Randolph as Young Mrs. Swofford;
Rini Bell as Swoff's Sister;
Dendrie Taylor as Mrs. Swofford;
James Morrison as Mr. Swofford