This is certainly no Band of Brothers and the drive to watch it is more out of a sense of morbid curiosity. But what is does reinforce is the concept of basic stupidity of the average Marine, and the lost reason and sanity of a few intelligent Marines in an otherwise testosterone laden landscape of illiteracy and limited vocabulary. I would like to think that this is a piece of fiction, but I fear this is , as others have said, true to life. It makes me sad to be an American if this is a true and actual depiction of what it is to be a Marine. if this is true it does not give one a sense that we will win anything based on intelligence, but rather by brute force. I suspect you could consider this a sanitized version of what the Defense Department didn't want you to see during the real war. None of thee men are heroes as you would find in Band of Brothers, where people rallied to a well defined enemy and the country made huge sacrifices to support the war effort.

What you get to see here is a one-of-a-kind mini-series: this is as close to a documentary as it gets. The realities of modern warfare are shown honestly with no political agenda and you are left to draw your own conclusions. When I watched this series I remembered a quote from another film, 'The Siege' from 1998, where Bruce Willis' character, a high ranking army official, says something along the lines of: "The army is a broad sword - not a scalpel. So trust me, you do not want to call the army, unless you have absolutely no other option". From an artistic point of view what stands out the most is the ensemble of actors. Not once during the entire seven episodes did I not believe I was watching the actual characters - the performances and the direction in this production are flawless. I've never seen a series that felt as real as this. This goes beyond mere entertainment - this is simply the best contemporary television has to offer. 10 out of 10.Favorite films: http://www.IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/Lesser-known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054808375/Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

Something that always sticks with me about Generation Kill is the that there is no musical score. Instead in the scenes where one would traditionally hear a song pop up, the cast end up singing it. I thought this was pretty cool.Although linear in storyline, GK is awesome in that it meanders along and not littered with plot devices. As a viewer you get a sense of sitting around waiting with the soldiers.I have never served in the military but the dialogue strikes me as being loyal to what soldiers in these situations would be talking about.The internal politics and power struggles constantly facing the characters add the element of drama which we face in our everyday lives, but in a war zone setting.The insertion of the journo is good writing because in effect since he is never named, I can assume that he is us, the viewer. He asks the questions we want to know.I have watched this entire series now twice and enjoyed it both times.

I don't really have my two cents to add to what others already said: it's simply a masterpiece. So it is this simple: get a bunch of Marines (or any kind of soldier, for that matter), reconstruct what they actually did in Iraq, and there's the perfect war movie. Sounds simple, however a reconstruction is worth nothing if it's not painstakingly accurate, from the slightest detail on uniforms to road signs and background characters. Generation Kill truly achieves this. A word of advice: non-native speakers will have serious problems with understanding dialogs, especially if they are not into military jargon and slang. Don't even think about watching it without subtitles.