Full Metal Jacket (1987)

 "This is my bro, This is his Party, he's the guest of Honor"
" Today ... is his birthday...I will never forget this day. The day I came
to Hue City and fought one million N.V.A. gooks. I love the little Commie bastards, man, I really do. These enemy grunts are as hard as slant-eyed drill instructors. These are great days we're living, bros!'We are jolly
green giants, walking the earth with guns. These people we wasted here today ... are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth
shooting."

One of the coldest movie dialogs, i've heard in this movie. It pretty much gave an example of what exactly the whole "Killer grunt" mode was all about in Vietnam. Instead of cheesy, corny dialog... this was as real as it could get.

This film's a masterpiece and the memorable characters being the 'lovable' Drill Instructor Hartman ... "You pukes will sleep with your rifles! You will give your rifle a girl's name! Because this is the only pu#@y you people are going to get! " May 7, 2008

 Kubrick's Nam
Along with "Platoon", "Full Metal Jacket" is one of the best anti-war films concerning Vietnam. This Special edition which is the 2nd one to be released in HD & blu-ray is a big improvement over the first edition. Also there are interviews with the cast members such R. Lee Ermey, Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio & Dorian Harewood. The image is sharp and there is very little grain at all. This belongs up there with Kubrick's own "Paths of Glory" as one of the great anti-war films of all time. Perhaps George W. Bush should have seen this before making his fateful decision to send our troops in harms way!! April 29, 2008

 Me Love you long time
I love this movie. I really like the drill instructor (R. Lee Ermey) and his ability to bring realism to the roll.

The HD version of this was what I would expect from Kubrick, raw and uncut (mostly). April 8, 2008

 Full Metal Soundtrack
By now, you probably already know how good a movie Full Metal Jacket is.
If we have to explain the origins of Lee Ermy or go into detail about how great a war movie this is... well... just buy it and see for yourself.

In terms of this medium, HD-DVD is an excellent way to enjoy this movie.
The visual quality is average. I'm attributing that to the age of the source film, but the HD-DVD comes out excessively grainy and not as sharp as more modern titles. It's still a head above regular DVD.. but not much.
In terms of audio, that's where this really stands out.
TrueHD 5.1 is the feature and you will never have heard Kubrick's war masterpiece as clearly as this. Even the original cinema wouldn't have given you this much ear delight.
Special features? who cares... I buy a movie for the movie, and rarely do i ever sit around for 4 hours later watching rubbish they tack on to make the back of the box look better.

Overall; Not exactly a HD-DVD demo, but great soundtrack and better visual quality than DVD make this the best way to experience FMJ. April 7, 2008

 one of the best "war" films, yet it's not really about "war"
that's right full metal is about the war within. most people think kubrick did not focus on the human condition. are you kidding? we have two prime examples right here, the first being focused on gomer pile, the second half on joker. two very different struggles and all bein from within. this psychological struggle is in the shining, clockwork, 2001 and so on....
anyway, this film is classic and for good reason. it's awsome. there's a million quatable lines which tends to suggest that the script has something going for it. lee ermy shines like a diamond here. we witness moody scenes that often burrow into our psyche. pile's suicide typically burns it's way into there. the scene compsotion (thanks to kubricks still photography roots) is beautiful and often surreal, not too far from the shining.
everyone tends to favor the first half. being that full metal jacket almost feels like 2 seperate films, it's almost impossible to measure up to, or exceed the greatness of the first. what i realised is that you should not try to relate the two parts as they really are totally different. the films pace slows down with the second half as well. the actual battle scenes are far and few between, further alienating full metal jacket from being a typical war movie. it almost seems that the war is actually over. i always felt like the soldiers were just meandering around ruins to make sure no survivors remained. just a grim feeling runs through you during these episodes.
the music shouldnt be overlooked in any of kubricks work. we have a mix of popluar songs with atmospheric pieces filled with jarring ambiant tones, void of melody. highly effective sound track in its manic structure.
this dvd seems to have the fewest extras of all the sets releases, however we are treated to commentary by several of the films participants. if only ermy made more of an appearance on the track.
too many people piss n moan over screening ratios and nit pick every little detail. after seeing this movie so many times on a vhs tape i am elated i have it here in this presentation as was intended by the man himself who made it for us. and actually, we have even more than he intended in this case. no complaints form me. 5+ stars!

m-i-c--k-e-y. m-o-u-s-e....... February 28, 2008

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