Now, we've all at one point or another watched one of Stanley Kubrick's best films he ever made in his career: Full Metal Jacket. Well...the first half anyway...right?
Well, that's the consensus. Everyone praises the first half for being funny, dramatic and a staple in war films...despite not being in the war yet...However, as much as I enjoy the first half, (and trust me, I certainly do.) the second half is the better of the two.
Blasphemy! You shout incoherently at the computer scream, hoping I somehow manage to hear it. Well, no sir you are quite wrong. While the first half is very captivating, funny and has one hell of an ending; it's by no means a 'great piece of filmmaking'. Outside of its realism, (well, until Private Pyle goes apeshit and unloads on Sgt. Hartman...) it's just a regular film. Hell, it could pass as a comedy for all I care...again...until that ending, of course.
The second half, however, is a realistic, gritty and at-times unsettling look on war. The message, themes and tone of the second half; hell, even some of the humour, is superior to the first act.
From the opening shot of a Vietnamese prostitute hitting on Pvt. Joker and Rafter Man accompanied by These Boots Are Made for Walkin' by Nancy Sinatra to the final shot of the now-dehumanised soldiers marching to The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse March is a great piece of war cinema.
So, suck it FML first-halfers!
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