I have mixed feelings about it so I rate it 6/10. I’d like to hear your opinions on this movie
I thought it was up to what I expect of Kubrick. I like how the troops are all shown to be traumatized children doing horrible shit because all normal emotion has been beaten out of them. You follow a bunch of shitty people and they live up to the bar set by uncle Sam.
What didn’t you like? It’s been a while, maybe I’m forgetting something awful.
i will guess that the lack of a debate within the film about the nature and reasons of this war, its like the war in vietnam fell out of the sky and that is just the way it is, no questions asked about us foreign policy and imperialistic practices.
so it fits the great long tradition of usian movies of showing that they were dumping bombs on a poor country, but really sad while doing it.
Sorta a shoot and cry thing, I get you. I guess I just assume Kubrick thinks US foreign policy is the work of bloodthirsry morons after Dr. Strangelove, but you’re right the characters don’t question the war really. Fair point.
I think the training section of the film works really well but all of the stuff that was supposed to be in Vietnam falls flat. Famously a stickler for controlling every part of a production, Kubrick staged the Vietnam war on a bit of waste land by the Thames estuary at Beckton. He remained in control and produced Full Metal Jacket.
Francis Ford Coppola chose to shoot Apocalypse Now in the Philippines and was subject to all kinds of madness, delays and destruction and produced the better film.
