The First Bit About The Thing That It Is
“What’s that?” says St. Talbot come a-staggerin’ into the room, gesturing to the telly screen in passing. “What’s that shite that’s on that you’re lookin’ at? Some shite, I dare say, is it?”
“No,” says I.
“Well what, then?”
“Generation Kill, it’s called.”
“Pfft. Generation Kill. Generation… Generation Balls. Generation Balls would be more like the thing that it is, likely.”
“It’s not balls” I say, scribbling then in the margins of the A5 notepad - “A thing to do would be to start the review with when St Talbot came in for a can out the fridge and said about what was it I was watching and was it shite, probably, was it? Also - dialogue - one marine to the rest - ‘Shit, back home in the news I bet they’re talkin’ about what heroes we all are right now. Reality is, we’re the kids other parents told their kids not to hang out with in High School.’”
“Well it looks it” he says, a can of Harp Lager clutched in punctured paw. “Looks balls. Looks balls to me from here. Load o’ hoors stood actin’ out things in a TV. Load o’ balls.”
“It’s not balls.”
It’s not balls.
Of the many things a man might have justification for sticking on the end of a sentence beginning “What Generation Kill is, is…”, of all those things - disorientating; occasionally confusing; an HBO miniseries similar in tone to Sam Mendes’ Jarhead; based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Evan Wright; full of ridiculously quotable, rapid-fire “fuck” and “cunt” soaked banter; seven and a half hours long; out on Region 2 DVD as of Monday 7th March 2009 (with extras including a bunch of excellent cast & crew commentaries and a couple fairly compelling Making Of’s) - not a one is there to be found that resides anywhere near the township of Balls.
Himself there rolling the eyes, swiping the grog-spill from the chops with the heel of a palm. “Oh it sounds like the great thing, right enough, I must say.”
“It is. It is the great thing.”
“Oh I dare say it is, yes, surely.”
Set in and around the first belches of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Generation Kill follows a group of 1st Recon Battalion marines (and embedded Rolling Stone journalist Evan “Scribe” Wright) as they embark upon a series of missions by turns pointless, dangerous, botched, farcical and mundane. Along the way they shit in buckets, wank into holes in the ground, battle sometimes with “Bad Guys”, sometimes with their consciences, sometimes with each other, mostly with a serious lack of any decent equipment, sleep or food.
![Generation Kill [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qZO7-EfdL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
ah, a duke by any other name...
what I found intriguing about the show is how during the fog of war everyone seems to being engaged in a war of their own. sure, there are frequent intersections, but never for too long. the actor who played Capt. America seemed to revel in his character's unadulterated jackassery.
now, go rent The Wire
2 - Aaron McMullan
Sir Bicho, i have promised to myself if no-one else that i will finally get to The Wire sometime in the next couple months. Also, I'm intrigued no end by - The Corner, is it called? The pre-Wire drug dealer number? But one thing at a time, and any Thing involving Steve Earle is always going to be the priority.
The private wars - yes, that struck me also, and what it arrived on the back of - the sense of each individual being absoloutely, totally removed from the ernormity of what they were doing - that was often fairly terrifying.
Few more chilling scenes have I spied in these past whiles, for example, than that in which the Whopper Jr. business was explained.
3 - El Bicho
The Corner is very good as well, and less of a time commitment. A year on the streets of Baltimore that will no doubt take the wind out of your sails from a devastating gob-smack as the last episode hits the final sequence before the credits.
re: the removed from the enormity bit. I think what that comes from is how can any training prepare them for what they find. They have to step back to protect themselves rather than risking becoming part of the chaos that surrounds them.
A scene that sticks with me is when they are in Baghdad and the solider tries to fire a warning shot at the oncoming car. brutal.
4 - Mary K. Williams
Well Duke - your Priest would be all over my --- if he knew that I too, have never seen The Wire. Nor Generation Kill for that matter.
Although your views on the latter are as entertaining as always - hilarious even - I have no inclination to see either project.
Now, El B - don't yell at me! : )
5 - Aaron McMullan
Sir Bicho - that sequence stuck with me also, although the one that has blazed the fiercest is the encounter with that shell-shocked soldier wandering half-mad about the roadside. An instance of What The Hell Are We Doing puncturing the fugg amidst the fog, to fairly devestatin effect.
Sir Mary - maybe we could set up a support group of some kind for such lamentable cases as we. On the Facebook - Dammit I Have Never Seen The Wire Just Yet! Who would be brave enough to join us? A rare one indeed.
6 - Aaron Fleming
Excellent, and welcome Aaron McMullan to the world of blogcritics. A young chap such as yourself, with energy such as your own, and a pen razor-sharp and inked with mighty imaginative insight, will fit in quickly and without obstacles to the ways of BC. Always good to discover fellow northern irish writerly folks, especially ones living out their lives in London, contributing to this dear site. We must get together some time to discuss our common neglect of the Wire. Are you familiar with the Salisbury on Green Lanes, perchance?
7 - Aaron McMullan
Heh, well thank you Sir Fleming, and do you know this, i HAVE encountered that tavern - many's the squad o' holligans - googleigans - i have encountered therein. i dare say we could show them a thing or two about what Sister Act was called in Mexico, them crowd.