For a few moments, Jarhead does have a chance to prove its worth in the audio department. A few fine explosions are enough to give the subwoofer wall-shaking work, and minor surround speaker action is used where needed. This is an especially strong disc in the two front stereo channels. (****)
Aside from commentaries, all of the extras are deleted scenes presented in different ways. A string of fantasy segments runs about 6:00. The commentary does a fascinating job of how wrong these went, even though they should have worked given how they were written. However, after the first one failed to work as planned, all of them needed to be cut. It was a wise move, and both Mendes and his editor Walter Murch know this.
The deleted sections of the interviews mentioned above are here in full, running about 16-minutes in total. Commentary is again provided, and these clips are another way to point out how fine these performances are. A separate portion of the disc offers 11 deleted scenes, but most of these are extended (and barely at that).
Finally, two separate commentary tracks run with the film. One oddly features Mendes alone without his editor (even though he provided commentary for every other feature). However, the track to listen to involves the rare combo of film writer William Broyles and the author of the book the movie is based off of, Anthony Swafford. Changes are obviously a focal point from one medium to the other, and it's wonderful to listen to them explain why things were done the way they were. (***)
If you're wondering if you squeeze Jarhead by, say, a 14-year old, think again. Unless he or she is really ready for some shocking material, the word "fuck" is spoken 278 times in less than a two-hour movie. Worse yet, that's not even the worst thing this does to earn the rating it did. It's not a complaint against the film, just a warning to be ready for what you could be watching.
Article comments
1 - Guppusmaximus
This movie wasn't one of my favorites nor will I ever watch it again, but, it did remind me of what downtime is like in the Marines.Very Juvenile.I did like the part when the sharpshooters are waiting to pick off an enemy officer.
Why is there so much swearing?? Because 85% of the Marines that are out patrolling are usually 18-23 years of age(usually a "Boot") and that is one,unfortunate as it may be,of the many attributes that is instilled in them during bootcamp. My D.I.'s swore at me sooo much I thought I learned a second language. Oh well, so much for memory lane... Nice Review.
2 - Victor Plenty
In modern war, many soldiers experience little but tedium throughout. I can't claim to know this from personal experience, but I have read enough real soldiers' narratives to know it anyway. So calling this "a war movie without war" is far from accurate. It puts less effort into glamorizing war, as something more exciting and meaningful than it really is, than most ordinary Hollywood productions. By avoiding this cliche, it becomes one of the few war movies to reveal anything really true about war.
3 - Scott Butki
Do you think this would be a good movie for a discussion? I lead movie discussions but this one may be too crude.