From Boot Camp to Desert Storm
Jarhead’s lead role doesn’t actually belong to Foxx, but Jake Gyllenhaal instead. Jake plays Anthony Swofford, a twenty-year old man who joins the Marines. We follow Swofford’s life through Marine boot camp, through scout sniper school, and then into operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. During his journey Gyllenhaal provides narrative moments cluing us in to his thoughts throughout this trying time in his life. The rigors of Marine life, especially in the harsh environment of the Middle East and thoughts of his girlfriend and her faithfulness are the majority of the film which plays out as much like a biography or documentary as it does a war film.
The progression of Jarhead over the course of its two hour runtime and how director Sam Mendes shows us the war through Swofford’s eyes makes it a very captivating tale. For some two hundred days during Desert Shield the Marines train, horse play, hydrate, train, and hydrate some more. Most Marines and their loved ones weren’t prepared for such a long stay, and the deterioration of the mental condition of some Marines is evident as their girlfriends and wives leave them, as their children are born in their absence – it’s all quite remarkable and sad in many ways. Swofford’s hellish time in Iraq follows him home in a lot of ways during the final scenes of the film in which he struggles to adjust to normal life once again after spending so much time abroad, in a war zone.
Gyllenhaal, Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Cooper (who stars alongside Foxx in The Kingdom), and the rest of the cast turn in great, meaningful performances in what I would consider one of the better war films in modern times.
On Blu-ray
Jarhead on Blu-ray is a great looking release, for the vast majority of the film. Really the only areas that I thought looked rough were during the scenes in the oil fields, at night. The contrast of the orange flames against the black night showed a lot of ‘blockiness’ or compression, but otherwise the visuals were superb. The DTS-HD 5.1 audio sounded great, catching all of the dialogue including the subdued narratives by Gyllenhaal as well as all of the gun fire and shouting from the action scenes.
As far as extra features go, well, there isn’t much on this Blu-ray release. Outside of the My Scenes feature where you can setup bookmarks and save your favorite scenes of the film, there are two commentary tracks. The first features Director Sam Mendes, and the other has Screenwriter William Broyles, Jr., and Author Anthony Swofford. It’s unfortunate that there aren’t more extras.
Let’s wrap up…