 JARHEAD
Wars take time to forget, and Hollywood
usually lets decades pass before recreating
the battlefield.
But Jarhead - based on the memoirs
of Gulf War Marine Anthony Swofford
- arrives on DVD with excellent timing,
hitting replay for the world's first
videogame war.
Swofford (played by Jake
Gyllenhaal) arrives at boot
camp, and shows promise as a sniper.
One problem: there's no enemy. Then
Saddam invades Kuwait, and the squad
are packed off to a country they don't
know to fight people they can't see
for a cause they don't understand.
Welcome to the suck.
With Private Troy (Peter
Sarsgaard) and Sergeant Sykes
(Jamie Foxx) on his
side, 'Swoff' waits for his first
taste of conflict. And waits. And
waits...
Frustration is everywhere in Jarhead,
except with the viewers. It's a classy
adventure with numerous highlights,
applauding the best war movies (Full
Metal Jacket is everywhere) and teasing
great performances from the cast.
Gyllenhaal gets better with age while
Sarsgaard proves one of the best supporting
actors a movie could want. As in Garden
State and Flightplan his presence
simply makes things better.
Best of all, it's a war movie which
doesn't wrap itself in the flag. On
this evidence, fighting for your country
is about as appealing as a Jade Goody
centrefold. We salute that.
This single disc contains three commentaries,
a 'Swoff's Fantasies' feature, extended
news interviews and 11 deleted scenes.
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