Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Written by Wuchak on June 14, 2025

Kubrick emphasizes Marine Corps boot camp and urban warfare in Vietnam

A high school journalist (Matthew Modine) goes to boot camp on Parris Island where he helps a struggling recruit (Vincent D'Onofrio) before serving as a chronicler of the war. In Da Nang he witnesses the start of the Tet Offensive before going 58 miles northwest of there on the coast to experience the Battle of Hue.

“Full Metal Jacket” (1987) went into production six months before “Platoon” in August, 1985, but took a full year to shoot and so “Platoon” beat it to the theaters by six months and stole its thunder. The interesting thing is that “Platoon” cost five times LESS to make ($6 million compared to $30 million) and is the all-around superior movie.

Yet this has its points of interest. The first act’s boot camp sequence is probably the most realistic rendition in cinematic history (speaking as someone who has been there). R. Lee Ermey is effective as the drill instructor, but he’s too hard on ‘Pyle.’

The switch to Vietnam is jarring, yet it is interesting to see a Vietnam War flick that doesn’t focus on jungle warfare, but rather urban combat. The ending is haunting (what Joker does), but it rips off what Capt. Willard did in the riverboat massacre scene of “Apocalypse Now” and just isn’t as potent.

There are two vulgar scenes featuring Vietnam prostitutes, particularly the second one, which I could do without. But I guess they’re just portraying the sad reality of life in these situations with war weary grunts in their late teens or early 20s.

It runs 1 hour, 56 minutes, and was shot in England (too many places to name) with a couple of archival shots of Parris Island, SC.

GRADE: B