[DanG]

An important note: political discussion and comments will not be tolerated here. If and when I see them I will delete and send warnings.

Just saw this movie tonight with but a freshman for company. Most realistic war movie I've seen, probably ever. Though I haven't served in the Marine Corps, I could see some very believable similarities (and extreme differences) with my experiences in the Israeli military. Random(ish) but important punishments, taking craps in the desert, guys getting dumped by their girls (though for me it was 3 guys in my squad over the same week of basic training), Arab civilians coming too close to soldiers and trying to touch their rifles.

Also some significant differences... major disrespect to living and dead humans, five-gallon alcohol containers (Israelis barely drink), firing weapons into the air like a bunch of Palestinian terrorists. Also the beautiful Marine dress uniforms. Damn it'll be great if I ever get to wear one of those.

So what were your thoughts? I liked it so much I may just go and see it again sometime.

 

[ricardo diaz]

Augh.
This movie looks dumb.

Just another crappy Hollywood version of a war movie.

All the Marines I've met do not even say "hoorah".

They've even told me they don't say that. I don't get why the media and stuff continue this, anyway.

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Cash cow, though due to the war in Iraq.

 

[Hey_Its_Cole]

I agree, having tons of military friends who are active duty, none of the stuff you described is how they behave over there. From seeing the previews I could tell that this movie was going to poorly represent the U.S. Military. The most accurate war movies with out the hollywood crap are We Where Soldiers, Black Hawk down. All of my military friends and former military friends tend to agree with those two movies as being the most accurate depiction of U.S. Soldiers at war. I have not seen it but from the previews it looks like more of that hollywood crap that gives soldiers a bad name. What is sad is it is written by a former US Marine.

 

[AlanY]

I saw it yesterday. Seemed pretty realistic to me. I thought in general it portrayed the Marines in a good light. It's not a political movie, just a "slice of life" kind of thing. I disagree that the kind of things shown in the movie are not realistic. Any time you get a bunch of young men together, you end up with frat-style stuff going on. Then toss in a lot of war-related pressure. There's actually a whole forum devoted to real submitted pictures by currently serving soldiers, showing some of the stuff they get up to, both the horsing around and some of the gory humor:
http://www.nowthatsfu**edup.com/bbs/forum23.html
http://www.nowthatsfu**edup.com/bbs/forum22.html
The movie is pretty tame by comparison. It's also a little slow moving, which is probably it's biggest flaw.

 

[jmr]

I'm still trying to get over Jake Gyllenhaal in "Bubble Boy". No thanks.

 

[Tuberoller]

Dan,that movie is probably the very worst depiction of MARINES I have yet seen on film. How a movie that has so many of the small details right could get so many of the larger ones so wrong,is a complete mystery to me. I'll tell you what,the most accurate things I saw were of course, the encounter with the Arabs in the desert,the Scorpion fight,the Wall of Shame and Crapboxes but nearly everything else was so "over the top" that it just ruined the rest of the movie for me and the dozens of other MARINES in the theatre,who booed heartily at the movie's end.

The sense of extreme boredom was not accurately depicted,the constant sound of planes flying overhead,the distant bombs,the sandstorms,the presense of so many officers and the extreme overcrowding were all ignored. I also think this movie was poorly cast. Chris Cooper,Jake Gyllenhall and Jamie Foxx were in search of a different movie.

The most rediculous scene is where he locks on another MARINE after the blown watch. Had he done that in reality,he would have been dead soon after. That is something you just never do and no other MARINE,especially a sniper would have allowed that. The second most rediculous scene is the one where they were locked on the Iraqi officer and were told to stand down. The friendly fire scene was phony as hell too,if only for the fact that A10 pilots never screw up like that. If those were F18s,I would say that's almost possible,but not in clear daylight with the tops of the Uni's clearly marked as we all know they are.

It was a funny movie and I did find myself entertained a bit,but this movie is proof that all stories are not worthy of being told.

For the record,I never fired a shot in the Gulf War either but I also never left camp and slept nearly the entire time I was there.

 

[ken36]

Hollyweird has a political agenda and finds it impossible to refrain from a negative aspect, in this case against the brave men and women of the United States Marine Corps.

 

[DanG]

Thanks for weighing in Fred. My buddy who did two tours in this war thought the movie was accurate so I guess I just took more of the stuff at face value. I was surprised, though, to see how unprofessional and downright stupid so many of the snipers were as I had the impression that in the Marine Corps it's a selective unit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuberoller The sense of extreme boredom was not accurately depicted,the constant sound of planes flying overhead,the distant bombs,the sandstorms,the presense of so many officers and the extreme overcrowding were all ignored.

I think with boredom it's just that it's a movie but that's also something that was different from my experience, though of course the Gulf War was a lot hotter at all times than the Intifadah (aside from Defensive Shield, which was before my time). Like AlanY said, it already felt like it was "dragging on" to some people (not me) so putting in more boredom would have a lot more people hating it.

Speaking of officers, I've been struck by how much Hollywood seems to hate them. In this movie they're all a-holes, same with "Over There", and it's always the higher-ups that are better guys. The Lt.Col. in Jarhead and the CO in Over There are the good guys, whereas in my experience every CO I had was either an ambitious a-hole or a new guy who got told what to do by the company Sgt. Though I guess colonels could always afford to be nice since they have nothing to do with regular enlisted men. And of course in Israel all the infantry Lts were enlisted first unlike in the US armed forces.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuberoller The most rediculous scene is where he locks on another MARINE after the blown watch. Had he done that in reality,he would have been dead soon after. That is something you just never do and no other MARINE,especially a sniper would have allowed that.

That really was one of the most denigrating parts of the movie. Like they're not trying to make out Marines to be frat boys but more like prisoners (like the guy sitting next to Gyllenhal in the plane).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuberoller For the record,I never fired a shot in the Gulf War either but I also never left camp and slept nearly the entire time I was there.

You must've had enough seniority not to do guard duty. I almost miss even standing in a guard tower for four hours with a pack of cigarettes and a zippo. But then I realize that now I'm among 2000 other 18-22-year-olds, a little over half of whom are female, and about 99% find me "mysterious" and "dangerous". How am I going to give up Sex for the Marines? God-damn...

 

[NightWoundsTime]

I liked the movie for what it was. I've got a friend in the marines and I've certainly seen the degenerate drunkard side from him and his friends. Agreed that Gylenhaal threatening to shoot the guy on watch was very unrealistic.

Also as far as the training where the guy stood up and got shot, I know they do training of that nature and it's rare that someone gets hurt but how is it handled? An accurate depiction of the grief and mourning by the victim's peers and superiors alike would be very interesting.

 

[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricardo diaz Augh. This movie looks dumb. Just another crappy Hollywood version of a war movie. All the Marines I've met do not even say "hoorah". They've even told me they don't say that. I don't get why the media and stuff continue this, anyway. =\ Cash cow, though due to the war in Iraq.

Did you read the book?

 

[wakeride74]

I did not see it and based on the previews have no intention to see it... maybe a rental.

I agree with Hey_Its_Cole about movies like Black Hawk Down and We Were Soldiers, those were both excellent and from what I hear almost verbatim when compared to the actual events that they were made to reproduce.

Jarhead just looks like a poor war movie but I have not seen it so I could be very wrong.

 

[The Monkey]

Not to beat a dead horse here, but Jarhead is based on the book, written by a marine sniper. Now, I don't doubt that Hollywood (and even the writer himself) may have taken liberties, but the film is not purely fictional.

 

[ricardo diaz]

Meh.

Military people I know > Some stupid book sold to Hollywood.

That's what it comes down to on whom I belive.

 

[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricardo diaz Meh. Military people I know > Some stupid book sold to Hollywood. That's what it comes down to on whom I belive.

I understand your point. It would be stronger, however, if you'd actually read the book.

 

[ricardo diaz]

True.

I would. If it's at the library. And if I cared enough to read it.

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Was it a good book?