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Product Details:
Actors:
Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black, Scott MacDonald, Peter Sarsgaard
Director:
Sam Mendes
Format:
Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language:
English, Spanish, French
Subtitle:
English, Spanish, French
Number of Discs:
1
Studio:
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Run Time:
125 minutes
HD DVD Release Date:
May 09, 2006
Average Customer Rating:
based on 207 reviews
Description:
Universal Jarhead - HD-DVD Jake Gyllenhaal ("The Day After Tomorrow," "Moonlight Mile"), Jamie Foxx ("Ray,""Collateral") and Peter Sarsgaard ("Kinsey," "Boys Don't Cry") star in Universal Pictures' "Jarhead," the adaptation of Marine Anthony Swofford's bracing memoir that took readers into his disorienting firsthand experience in the Gulf War. "Jarhead" (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows "Swoff" (Gyllenhaal), a third-generation enlistee,from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound truck on his back through Middle East deserts with no cover from intolerable heat or from Iraqi soldiers, always potentially just over the next horizon.Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazingdesert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they don't fully fathom. Foxx portrays Sergeant Sykes, aMarine lifer who heads up SW's scout/sniper platoon, while Sarsgaard is Swoff's friend and mentor, Troy, a die-hard member of STA-their elite Marine Unit. An irreverent and true account of a war thatwas antiseptically packaged a decade ago, "Jarhead" is lace with dark wit, honest inquisition and episodes that are at once surreal and poignant, tragic and absurd.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Review:
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American Boredom: Every War is the SameDec 16, 2008 American Boredom: Every War is the Same
There is a mantra within the EMS (Emergency Medical Services) community that the work is defined by extended periods of intense boredom interrupted by occasional moments of sheer terror. The same has been said, I believe, of war (and marriage too perhaps). This is the primary message that is being made within this finely crafted piece on modern warfare. That and what this sort of pattern does to a man's psyche. However there are many other specific points of consideration that are touched upon during the film within this larger contextual premise.
One of the strengths of `Jarhead' is that is manages to maintain a healthy comedic tone throughout most of its entirety. The humor is, though at times perhaps crude, nonetheless true to life and consistent with the type that emerges from within the safety of the camaraderie found in such a setting. To compare this film to Full Metal jacket is unfair. FMJ was iconic with its brutal depiction of basic training and the preparations for war. Attempts at humor were minimal when present at all. `Jarhead' is not only unique with its contrary approach but highly effective in making its points along the way. Its gradual progression into a more serious piece of work correlates with the transition of the young men in the film into active war combatants. It's logical artistically and it works.
The acting is strong throughout, anchored by Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Fox, and talented more unknowns like Lucas Black and Chris Cooper in supporting roles. The points within the film, aside from the central aforementioned premise, relate to political motivations for war (like oil), suicide/mental health issues in combat veterans, friendly fire concerns, and the masturbatory practices of young men in isolation. It is at times tragic but the humor is what keeps it together and smooths the consumption of the more serious topics broached.
Mendes exhibited his mastery previously with `American Beauty' and he does so again in a polar opposite setting. Do yourself and favor and check out `Jarhead'. Amidst the regular clutter of banal mediocrity in modern film and the overpopulated collection of similar war movies, lies this treasure. A thinking man's piece if not a masterpiece. And a fine one at that.
-Rusty Scalpel
Jarhead - Blu-ray InfoDec 11, 2008 Version: U.S.A / Region A, B, C
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
VC-1 BD-25 / Advanced Profile 3
Running time: 2:02:50
Movie size: 21,42 GB
Disc size: 22,05 GB
Average video bit rate: 15.91 Mbps
Number of chapters: 20
Every Man Fights His Own WarNov 25, 2008 This movie is hugely underrated, and often poorly misrepresented. At least it appears so from a lot of these reviews.
Perhaps as others have said, it was and still is marketed incorrectly, as some believe the absence of "War-like Violence" leaves much to be desired.
But define war?? At least in its true, non text book sense and this movie will speak volumes.
It's an incredibly intelligent, poignant and heartbreakingly honest film, driven by 'the wait' for an enemy that never emerged.
Perhaps our ignorance for such a film proves our ignorance towards the true mechanisms and often extreme waste that war is.
Mission to kill?
We seem to forget the stories of those who did nothing but kill time in the desert.
As the film concludes; "He will always remain, a jarhead. And all the jarheads, killing and dying, they will always be me...
We are still in the desert"
5 stars...
If you're intelligent enough to understand it, you'll never forget it
Interesting MovieOct 19, 2008 Too bad HD-DVD is dead, but if you still own a player, this is a great movie for the price. I think those of us who are soldiers and have been to Iraq can understand this movie a little better than those who haven't. Some of the scences can be too close to home and somewhat overbearing for non-military viewers, but helps to remind us how much of a sacrifice we made in both wars. The picture quality and sound delivers, though this more of an enhanced DVD than a true HD movie.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Really wants to be Apocalypse Now...Oct 14, 2008 If you want a war move that probes the depths of madness and incorporates surerealism while exploring the lives of soldiers trapped in a pointless microcosm of a wider war, you have two options. Get a pretty lame and boring variation on this theme in Jarhead, or get Apocalypse Now. The later is the infinitely better choice.
![Jarhead [HD DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512GYK4F58L._SL200_.jpg "Jarhead [HD DVD]")
based on 207 reviews
