Full Metal Jacket

1987 Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Vietnam can kill me, but it can’t make me care.

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Matthew Modine Adam Baldwin Vincent D'Onofrio R. Lee Ermey Dorian Harewood Arliss Howard Kevyn Major Howard Ed O'Ross John Terry Bruce Boa Kieron Jecchinis Jon Stafford Tim Colceri Peter Edmund Kirk Taylor Ian Tyler Gary Landon Mills Sal Lopez Papillon Soo Ngoc Le Tan Hung Francione Marcus D'Amico Costas Dino Chimona Keith Hodiak Peter Merrill Herbert Norville Leanne Hong Duc Hu Ta Nguyen Hue Phong Show All…

Alternative Titles

Nacido Para Matar, Nacido para matar, Metal Jacket, 풀 메탈 자켓, Cara de Guerra, Pelny magazynek, Glonţ cu cămaşă metalică, Olovni kovčeg, 金甲部隊, Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket

war drama

116 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Noetic Hatter ★★★★½ 24

For the full extent of my high school years (1988-92), I was a cadet in the United States Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. My fellow cadets and I worshiped the Boot Camp half of this film. R. Lee Ermey was like a god to us, and we memorized all of his speeches. But because we were so obsessed with the Ermey character, we never seemed to watch the second half. We apparently bought into the myth that it sucked.
Looking back now on that Boot Camp half that looms so large in my memory, I find two truths at work: First, it's been parodied so many times since then, frequently by Ermey himself, that it's initially hard to take…
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★★ 18

There's absolutely no one in the entire history of cinema whom can bring to life one of the most monumental and quintessential examples of a drill sergeant than actor R. Lee Ermey! It wasn't an act of god that set loose such a formidable force of nature upon the world! It was the act of director Stanley Kubrick!
Upon leaving theaters audience members rushed home to examine their backsides as they were convinced Sgt. Hartman had torn them a new one! While others couldn't wait to test out some of the best written profanity laced, testosterone fueled one liners known to all mankind!
The film's greatest strength was the boot camp training sequence! It was the epitome of perfection in its examination of the uber masculinization of war!
While the latter parts of the film which took place in Viet Nam showed signs of promise it came no where near the brilliance exhibited earlier in the film!
Naughty Approved!
Review by Jacob Olsen ★★★★½ 15

This film has always given me a deep sense of unease. This feeling particularly applies to the first part, which takes place at basic training. In fact, I feel that what the recruits are exposed to affect myself directly. The whole film deals with partial degradation of human dignity and the self, but the way Kubrick throws this in our faces already from the beginning grabs me every time.
The haircut-sequence is an important part of this. As before a surgical procedure, the skulls are prepared for the psychological interventions that will follow. Human hair, an important part of who you are, is left behind in a heap on the floor. By completely changing and standardizing appearance this helps alienating…
Review by Matt Curione ★★★★★ 12

Fun Fact: Both halves are great it's just that children lose interest when a man isn't screaming in their face.
Review by DirkH ★★★★★ 15

There are only a handful of truly iconic war films and this most definitely belongs among them. It does not merely depict elements of war in a realistic way, it also intelligently critiques and satirizes our species' instinctive tendencies to wage war and the inescapable need for a communal spirit while cyclically purveying an 'us vs them' mentality.
In the first part, perhaps most famous for the foul mouthed genius of Lee Ermy, Kubrick shows us how the cogs are created in the machine that was the Vietnam war. By dehumanizing new recruits, Kubrick shows us the strengths and weaknesses of our race. When pushed, we can achieve anything we want. When thrust together we take care of our own…
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 1

85/100
Surfin' bird.

Recent reviews

Review by Ben Rendich ★★★★½

It’s a perfect movie. The not-quite-perfect rating is because I hesitate when it comes to violence in cinema.
Full Metal Jacket may be Stanley Kubrick‘s masterpiece. I say this because I feel his philosophy comes through most vividly here; there’s that sublime scene between Joker (Matthew Modine) and the Colonel, who interrogates Joker as to the meaning of his combat accessories: a peace pin, and a helmet which reads: “Born to Kill.” “I think,” Joker explains, “I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.”
That’s Kubrick’s filmography in a nutshell: with every gesture toward one intended outcome, there is a corresponding contradiction that upends all pretense. You can march through his career and find it everywhere: in Strangelove,…
Review by mike ★★★★½

This is essentially two movies. The first half set in a military boot camp is very entertaining and honestly really funny with the drill sergeant Hartman absolutely carrying the whole sequence with his stellar performance. The second half is set in Vietnam and is a lot darker with some unconventional filming that makes this half feel very surreal. The first half is a solid 5/5 and the second is a 4/5.
Review by Greg Daniel ★★★★

Having just added Sergeant Hartman as my profile pic I felt the need to re watch this for some reason. But seriously a great film, with great mise en scene. The film gives a real insight into military life, well minus Private Pile losing his mind and killing his Sergeant.
Review by Sophie Brown ★★★★★

I was not ready for shit to get that dark. Damn.
Review by OrionMidnight ★★★★★

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice"
Review by Chloe Janson ★★★★½

The first war movie that I have enjoyed from start to finish
Review by Varghese Eapen ★★★★½

Discipline or just something hard to shrug off? If breathless was ever used to describe a performance in cinema this would be it. What drives the human soul to foolhardiness? Is it the lack of belief in oneself or the mental conditioning at all costs? The things that really went on is more shocking but pretty darn close. We have to understand that the screenplay is two sides of a coin; hardening of the spirit eventually leads to moral ambiguities.
Review by Felipe Fritz ★★★★★

It feels like I'm watching someone else's nightmares fall apart as they try to wake up
Review by Aleyna🧚🏼‍♀️

Şahane bir film tabii ki ama gelgelelim hoşuma gitti mi ? Gitti, fakat ayılıp bayılamadım
Yer yer de Esra Erol’un programında “Allahım hemen İsrail’in belasını ver” diyerek alakasız çıkış yapan yıldız tilbe’ye hak verdim ancak filmin israille alakası yoktu.
Bir de film erkek dolu

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