Jarhead (2005)

Directed by Sam Mendes. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black, Evan Jones, Brian Geraghty, Jacob Vargas, Laz Alonzo, Chris Cooper, Scott MacDonald, Dennis Haysbert. [R]

Anthony Swofford (Gyllenhaal) and his fellow jarheads (slang for “marines”), fresh from sniper training, are shipped off to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield; they’re eager to see combat, but instead spend weeks and months drilling, training, digging, etc. in a mundane routine while waiting for action. Resembling a visual journal of wartime-downtime experiences, there are isolated engrossing moments and exchanges, but the cumulative effect rates as insignificant. Director Mendes spends so much time directly quoting scenes and techniques from past war films—Full Metal Jacket, Three Kings, Apocalypse Now (heck, they even show soldiers watching a screening of that one)—that he neglects to carve out an identity to call its own. Good performances and Roger Deakins’ scorching photography make it marginally worthwhile, but little else should have ever graduated boot camp. The concluding scenes back home are unearned and ineffectual. Based on Swofford’s same-named memoir; inspired a handful of unrelated “sequels.” John Krasinski makes a brief appearance as a corporal.

57/100