Full Metal Jacket

This is a really intense movie, especially the first part will leave a big impression on you. It's chaotic, it's a real drill, but it beautifully shows how crazy the army is. It has to raise people who are capable of killing, who are capable of going into battle and shooting. In the end, it shows that even then it's not easy. The second part is strong as well, when you see the soldiers and how everything is completely twisted. (2015-03-04)

Kubrick does attempt to push the boundaries of the genre once again, but in the war film, it did not work out for him. Despite the surprising first hour, Full Metal Jacket has become the director's far most unpalatable piece (and therefore considerably un-Kubrick-like), which kills the impossibility to identify with any of the characters. (2006-03-15)

The first half is amazing, it has an incredibly fast pace for a war film. Towards the end it relaxes a little, but then the director shows a bit of real war action, so I’m satisfied overall. Kubrick masterfully handles the psychology, which he focuses on more than grand action scenes. (2004-02-16)

The first part of the film, which takes us into the training of the Marines, is great. Basically, it's about nothing more than a screaming and terrorizing sergeant who drives the soldiers to the edge of their physical and mental limits. This part of the won't let you breathe a sigh of relief, you just have to work hard and you can't even sniffle without permission. Among the soldiers, we have Private Pyle, who, although he's quite slow and lagging behind, has my admiration, because in this training I would pass out after two hours and I'm still cheering myself on. However, he doesn't handle it mentally; that blank maniacal expression of his will haunt me for a long time. It's just a pity that the climax of this plot didn't gain more momentum, it could have been a great theme for another film. The second part slows down a bit and gets a little boring, but once we get into combat, it's again a very good show. The only odd thing, the film is just under two hours long, and although I didn't feel like it dragged on for any length of time (unlike Space Odyssey, where the pace is slower), it felt like it was about 3 hours long, but no matter, I still liked it. (2018-09-05)

The green-brain one-man-show in the first act is perfect, but as soon as the plot shifts to Vietnam, the film starts to creak. Actually, nothing important happens during those two acts. There is no deeper thought, nothing that would leave me with an emotional experience, which I would expect from a Kubrick film. Moreover, the "Vietnam" locations are rather unconvincing and Kubrick can't do battle scenes. I know better films about the Vietnam war. (2003-08-23)