Full Metal Jacket

Kubrick’s second-worst war film (his worst if you classify “Fear and Desire” as an “anti-war” film) gets all the scenes that get quoted out of the way early before it turns into an episodic saga of dark comedy, pitch-black horror, and thinly-veiled allegory—I’d compare it to a Tim O’Brien novel, but it’s safer to say this is just consequence of talking about the Vietnam War. All my textbooks talked about this period with an air of “God, do we really have to do this”. I was frustrated with this in my youth, but looking back, the reluctance was understandable.

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