Stanley Kubrick’s film about marines in the Vietnam War is very uneven. The first section, detailing the marines’ training with their drill instructor, is compelling and blackly funny. R. Lee Ermey is fantastic as the terrifyingly tough sergeant and it’s worth watching if only for the call-and-response marching songs.
The second part of the film is less involving, despite being set in the war itself. This is mainly because we haven’t been introduced to most of the characters and therefore don’t especially care about them. The battle sequences are brutal and extremely well-filmed.
Matthew Modine is fine in the lead role as Private J.T. “Joker” Davis, from whose point of view the film is presented, but in terms of narrative arc and characters you can empathise with there’s still something missing.
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