One of the better war films you'll ever see this movie explores the mind of a soldier more than the setting and action (which do have emphasis payed upon them) and for those reasons is exceptional. Playing on the likes of 'Full Metal Jacket' which has come before and being truly unique there's more of a focus on what's not happening and how the characters pass time which is truly unique. The ending is heartbreaking and also satisfying in equal measure, a great surprise I highly recommend you watch

A psychological study of operations desert shield and desert storm during the gulf war; through the eyes of a U.S marine sniper who struggles to cope with the possibility his girlfriend may be cheating on him back home. Jarhead is a character study and that i respect it i really do but that doesn't mean that the movie is good too, unfortunately the whole 'maybe she's cheating on me' is kind of a stupid plotline and for the biggest majority of the film nothing happens except the soldiers making stupid things and that's basically the film. (5/10)

Years ago I started watching this movie. Couldn't finish it as it was so brutally cynical, hopeless and pretentious. Just stopped in the middle or before then.Recently I started watching it again. Obviously I had erased from my mind the memories of the self-gratifying obscenities, the documentary supposed angle of it, the gross, graphic, and unnecessary sexual content, and all the rest of the F-wording.Well, same again. I remembered that I had watched this movie when I realized that I am going to quit watching, so dull and pretentious it seemed to me with all the nonsense that made it on the director's camera and in front of the weary eye of the viewer. That's when I realized: "Ah! Now I remember this movie! I could not keep on watching the flick so I quit!" Then I quit again.And decided to write a review to explain this phenomenon. How frustrating a movie has to be to remember it only by the fact that you had not been able to bear to watch it in the first place?There is one good point to it. At least these characters did not talk about their hemorrhoids. Well, I am not 100 per cent sure as I did not finish it. Maybe they did in the second half which I did not watch?

Sam Mendes' Jarhead is the true story of what former marine Anthony Swofford went through before, during, and after the Persian Gulf War. The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford a marine who fired his gun years before the gulf war happened but never got to fire a gun during a time of war. This is truly what I consider to be a great piece of movie making and with both Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx giving the best performances of their entire careers in one of 2005's best films. Director Sam Mendes took the time to create a war movie classic, which goes on a par with Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, The Devil's Brigade, The Deer Hunter, and Patton. This move also shows what the marines have to go through constantly. As Gene Shalit of U.S.A Today "A Masterwork, Jarhead is more than a movie, It's an experience.". I truly agree with that because that is actually what Anthony Swofford went through during his time in the Marine Corps. For those people who are veterans in any military branch or are currently serving right now and if you get to watch this movie it will stay with you for a very long time.