Full Metal Jacket is an anti-war thriller written and directed by Stanley Kubrick. Released on June 27th, 1987, the movie sets place in three locations throughout the entirety of its run. The boot camp training, the combatant landing on Vietnam and the chaotic aftermath of the war in the third act. The movie stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, R. Lee Ermey and John Terry. Each of them give an impressive performance that not only shocks but also conveys the harsh realities of military abuse and the Vietnam War. All of them fully immerse themselves to the role and never break character in any scene.

Full Metal Jacket begins in the bootcamp where Joker, Pyle and other cadets are forced to behave with extreme obedience from their abusive drill sergeant. During training, Private Joker watches over Pyle and tries to help him pass the course. Private Pyle continues to make mistakes during his time in bootcamp and ends up getting bullied from his bunkmates. In the end, Private Pyle falls under pressure and commits suicide after murdering his drill sergeant. In the 2nd Act, Joker is sent to Vietnam alongside with his other units where they fight against the Viet Congs in Da Nang. Although Joker is a Marine soldier he is also a war journalist working closely with other units to capture and secure stories of the war for the Stars and Stripes newspaper. As the story progresses, the cruel exposure of the war begins to weigh down on Joker and his colleagues. They are sent to a base set up in Da Nang where they rest and a take a break from the battles. While there the Marines face heavy bombardment of enemy attacks and ambushes from a Tet Offensive. Everything from the war becomes more intense as Joker and his team move to Hue.

The bombing of the Hue City turns it into a wasteland. The entire area that us to be populated has become dead, reduced to rubble and ash. The brilliance behind this scene is that we’re only shown the aftermath of the bombing rather than the current moment of the destruction. The wrecked buildings and empty streets of Hue helps capture and cements the dreadful impact war has on civilians and their livelihood. Stanley Kubrick once again shows his commitment to details and environmental immersion. Joker and his team then scout out in Hue until they get attacked by an enemy sniper. Two of their members have been gun down and have to find a way to stop the sniper before their all killed. This sniper scene in the movie is extremely disturbing and hard to watch simply because it doesn’t hold back any punches when portraying the violence of it. Seeing Joker’s friends getting crippled one by one is both horrifying and heartbreaking all at once. As the battle continues Joker finally confronts the shooter and takes her out. As the sniper slowly dies all the remaining soldiers decide to let her suffer but Joker makes the choice by killing her himself rather than prolong her pain.

Full Metal Jacket ends with a final monologue by Joker as he and his unit marches to Perfume River. His final thoughts speaks both reflection and content with the events he experienced in Vietnam. He describes the utter horror and inhuman chaos unfolded by military forces and how it has almost destroy his inner humanity. However his monologue also hints a small optimism and gratitude by admitting how glad he is to still be alive and no longer afraid of what’s to come. The ending of Full Metal Jacket is so awe striking because it doesn’t feel like a happy ending. It’s extremely bleak and empty that offers no clear resolution to its characters and the story overall. There’s no sense of clarity or clue that anyone from the war is going to survive in their next battle. Seeing the soldiers marching in the night while a city is burning in the ground behind them invokes a terrifying resemblance of hell. It’s as if Stanley Kubrick was trying to foreshadow a dark conclusion where the soldiers were walking into another cruel and unforgiving fight where none of them would survive. Although we don’t see Joker and his unit die before it fades to black, it most likely illudes that they are going to die in their next battle. The movie takes a gritty and realistic direction in its depiction of the Vietnam War. Every shot and angles and how the fight scenes are choreographed gives Full Metal Jacket a documentary aesthetic to the battlefield.

Stanley Kubrick as always been the director that paid attention to detail and it shows in every location and area in Full Metal Jacket. The destruction of homes, farms and civilized cities shows that no one was safe from the Vietnam War. What’s also disturbing about this movie is that it doesn’t shy away from the war crimes that the United States are responsible for. We see a moment in the helicopter where a soldier mows down innocent farmers with a M60 Machine gun. It just shows how heartless and grotesque that civilians were treated by the U.S. military. It is also one of many examples of heinous crimes committed by the U.S government. Nothing feels out of place and every moment feels a like an immersive insight of the war. Although all of the film was not shot on location but instead in the United Kingdom. However, with the amount of planning and structuring of the set pieces in the movie, hardly anyone who watches the movie would notice it. Full Metal Jacket is an iconic piece of cinema that is still praised, admired and respected by many people in the film industry. It is an important film that shows the terrifying downfall of man when faced with extreme brutality of warfare and how no one truly can come out of it unscathed. Whether they are soldiers in combat or innocent bystanders; no one is safe. Stanley Kubrick not only shows his genius and creativity with Full Metal Jacket but also his versatility.