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List Price: $29.98Amazon.com's Price: $19.99 You Save: $9.99 (33%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: Blu-ray
Brand: Universal
EAN: 0025195053969
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: November 25, 2008
Running Time: 123 minutes
Sales Rank: 11553
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 11/25/2008 Run time: 123 minutes Rating: R
Amazon.com:
Based on Anthony Swofford’s excellent memoir about his experiences as a Marine Sniper in Gulf War I, Jarhead is a war movie in which the waiting is a far greater factor upon the characters than the war itself, and the build up to combat is more drama than what combat is depicted. To some viewers hoping for typical movie action, this will seem like a cruel joke. But it’s not. It’s just the story as it was written, and if you liked the book, you will probably like the movie. If you didn’t, then the movie won’t change your mind.
The movie follows the trajectory of Swofford (played with thoughtful intensity by Jake Gyllenhaal) from wayward Marine recruit (he joined because he 'got lost on the way to college') to skilled Marine sniper, and on into the desert in preparation for the attack on Iraq. No-nonsense, Marine-for-life Staff Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx), the man who recruited Swofford and his spotter Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) into the sniper team, leads them in training, and in waiting where their lives are dominated by endless tension, pointless exercises in absurdity (like playing football in the scorching heat of the desert in their gas masks so it will look better for the media’s TV cameras), more training, and constant anticipation of the moment to come when they’ll finally get to kill. When the war does come, it moves too fast for Swofford’s sniper team, and the one chance they get at a kill--to do the one thing they’ve trained so hard and waited so long for--eludes them, leaving them to wonder what was the point of all they had endured.
As directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), the movie remains very loyal to the language and vision of the book, but it doesn’t entirely work as the film needs something more than a literal translation to bring out its full potential. Mendes’s stark and, at times, apocalyptic visuals add a lot and strike the right tone: wide shots of inky-black oil raining down on the vast, empty desert from flaming oil wells contrasted with close-ups of crude-soaked faces struggling through the mire vividly bring to life the meaning of the tagline 'welcome to the suck.' But much of the second half of the movie will probably leave some viewers feeling disappointed in the cinematic experience, while others might appreciate its microcosmic depiction of modern chaos and aimlessness. Jarhead is one of those examples where the book is better than the movie, but not for lack of trying. --Dan Vancini
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Every Man Fights His Own War
This movie is hugely underrated, and often poorly misrepresented. At least it appears so from a lot of these reviews.
Perhaps as others have said, it was and still is marketed incorrectly, as some believe the absence of "War-like Violence" leaves much to be desired.
But define war?? At least in its true, non text book sense and this movie will speak volumes.
It's an incredibly intelligent, poignant and heartbreakingly honest film, driven by 'the wait' for an enemy that never emerged. ... Read More
Rating:  - Interesting Movie
Too bad HD-DVD is dead, but if you still own a player, this is a great movie for the price. I think those of us who are soldiers and have been to Iraq can understand this movie a little better than those who haven't. Some of the scences can be too close to home and somewhat overbearing for non-military viewers, but helps to remind us how much of a sacrifice we made in both wars. The picture quality and sound delivers, though this more of an enhanced DVD than a true HD movie.
Rating:  - Really wants to be Apocalypse Now...
If you want a war move that probes the depths of madness and incorporates surerealism while exploring the lives of soldiers trapped in a pointless microcosm of a wider war, you have two options. Get a pretty lame and boring variation on this theme in Jarhead, or get Apocalypse Now. The later is the infinitely better choice.
Rating: - Good Movie for a Boring Day
This isn't the most captivating movie in the world, but it does have humor in it with a serious underlying message. It's a good movie to watch when you're tired, but not so good for real brain stimulation.
Rating: - Not at all what I expected
I rented this one last night, expecting a typical war story. What I got was something else entirely. This is the movie adaptation of the autobiographical book of the same name by Anthony Swofford about his experiences in the Marines during the first Gulf War. As a former military guy myself from that era, I was initially drawn into the story because I could relate to Swofford's introduction into military life at boot camp. It was a scene familiar to anyone with armed forces experience. Unfortunately, ... Read More
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