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Jarhead (book)
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 This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)
Jarhead
JarheadBookCover.jpg
Official cover

Author
Anthony Swofford
Country
United States
Language
English
Subject
Military
Publisher
Scribner

Publication date
 March 4, 2003
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
272
ISBN
0-7432-3535-5
OCLC
50598121

Dewey Decimal
 956.7044/245 21
LC Class
DS79.74 .S96 2003
Jarhead is a Gulf War memoir by author Anthony Swofford. After leaving military service, the author went on to college and earned a Master's degree in Fine Arts at the University of Iowa.
§Plot[edit]
Jarhead recounts Swofford's enlistment and service in the United States Marine Corps during the Persian Gulf War, in which he served as a Scout Sniper with the Surveillance and Target Acquisition (STA) Platoon of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines.
Like most of the troops stationed in the Middle East during the Gulf War, Swofford saw very little actual combat. Swofford's narrative focuses on the physical, mental and emotional struggles of the young Marines.[citation needed]
One of the through-lines of his first-person account involves the challenge of balancing the art and science and mind-set of the warrior with one's own basic sense of humanity. Swofford admits to a sense of disappointment, frustration and emptiness that comes in the wake of ultimately being cheated of any real combat experience by a war that, for many American Marines at least, has ended all too quickly after enduring many months of grinding, anticlimactic suspense. And yet there have been the numerous encounters with poignant, eerie tableaux of dead Iraqi soldiers who'd been killed so quickly where they sat so as to appear to have been deliberately posed, like store-display mannequins, in their final moments of life.
§Film adaptation[edit]
The novel was adapted into a 2005 feature film starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, and Peter Sarsgaard. The screenplay was written by William Broyles Jr. and directed by Sam Mendes. Reviews were generally positive.



Stub icon This article about a memoir is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




Stub icon This article about a book on United States military history is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: 2003 books
Books adapted into films
Gulf War books
Military memoirs
United States Marine Corps in popular culture
Memoir stubs
United States military history stubs
Military history book stubs
United States history book stubs









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Jarhead (book)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)
Jarhead
JarheadBookCover.jpg
Official cover

Author
Anthony Swofford
Country
United States
Language
English
Subject
Military
Publisher
Scribner

Publication date
 March 4, 2003
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
272
ISBN
0-7432-3535-5
OCLC
50598121

Dewey Decimal
 956.7044/245 21
LC Class
DS79.74 .S96 2003
Jarhead is a Gulf War memoir by author Anthony Swofford. After leaving military service, the author went on to college and earned a Master's degree in Fine Arts at the University of Iowa.
§Plot[edit]
Jarhead recounts Swofford's enlistment and service in the United States Marine Corps during the Persian Gulf War, in which he served as a Scout Sniper with the Surveillance and Target Acquisition (STA) Platoon of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines.
Like most of the troops stationed in the Middle East during the Gulf War, Swofford saw very little actual combat. Swofford's narrative focuses on the physical, mental and emotional struggles of the young Marines.[citation needed]
One of the through-lines of his first-person account involves the challenge of balancing the art and science and mind-set of the warrior with one's own basic sense of humanity. Swofford admits to a sense of disappointment, frustration and emptiness that comes in the wake of ultimately being cheated of any real combat experience by a war that, for many American Marines at least, has ended all too quickly after enduring many months of grinding, anticlimactic suspense. And yet there have been the numerous encounters with poignant, eerie tableaux of dead Iraqi soldiers who'd been killed so quickly where they sat so as to appear to have been deliberately posed, like store-display mannequins, in their final moments of life.
§Film adaptation[edit]
The novel was adapted into a 2005 feature film starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, and Peter Sarsgaard. The screenplay was written by William Broyles Jr. and directed by Sam Mendes. Reviews were generally positive.



Stub icon This article about a memoir is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




Stub icon This article about a book on United States military history is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: 2003 books
Books adapted into films
Gulf War books
Military memoirs
United States Marine Corps in popular culture
Memoir stubs
United States military history stubs
Military history book stubs
United States history book stubs









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Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















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Contents
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Upload file
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Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Dansk
Italiano
Nederlands
Edit links
This page was last modified on 18 February 2015, at 02:00.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarhead_(book)























Jarhead (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Jarhead
Jarhead.jpg
Original theatrical poster

Directed by
Sam Mendes
Produced by
Douglas Wick
 Lucy Fisher
Screenplay by
William Broyles, Jr.
Based on
Jarhead
 by Anthony Swofford
Starring
Jake Gyllenhaal
Peter Sarsgaard
Chris Cooper
Jamie Foxx
Music by
Thomas Newman
Cinematography
Roger Deakins
Edited by
Walter Murch
Distributed by
Universal Pictures

Release dates

November 4, 2005 (United States)
November 5, 2005 (Germany)


Running time
 123 minutes
Country
United States
 Germany
Language
English
Arabic
Budget
$72 million
Box office
$96,889,998[1]
Jarhead is a 2005 biographical drama war film based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 2003 memoir of the same name, directed by Sam Mendes, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford with Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard and Chris Cooper. The title comes from the slang term used to refer to United States Marines.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Release 3.1 Critical response
3.2 Baghdad Express
4 Accolades 4.1 Wins
4.2 Nominations
5 Sequel
6 References
7 External links

§Plot[edit]
In 1989, Anthony "Swoff" Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) attends basic Marine Corps training before being stationed at Camp Pendleton. Claiming that he enlisted in the military because "he got lost on the way to college," Swofford finds his time at Camp Pendleton difficult, and struggles to make friends. While Swofford feigns illness to avoid his responsibilities, a "lifer", Marine Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx), takes note of his potential and orders Swofford to attend his Scout Sniper course.
After grueling training, the Scout Sniper course is left with eight candidates, among them Swofford, now a sniper, and Swofford's roommate Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) who becomes his spotter. When Iraq invades Kuwait, Swofford's unit is deployed to the Persian Gulf as a part of Operation Desert Shield. Eager for combat, the Marines find themselves bored with remedial training, constant drills, and a routine monotony that feeds their boredom, and prompts them to talk about the unfaithful girlfriends and wives waiting for them at home. They even erect a bulletin board featuring photographs and brief notes telling what perfidies the women had committed.
Swofford obtains unauthorized alcohol and organizes an impromptu Christmas party, arranging for Fergus (Brian Geraghty) to cover his watch so he can celebrate. Fergus accidentally sets fire to a tent and ignites a crate of flares, waking the whole camp and enraging Staff Sergeant Sykes, who demotes Swofford from Lance Corporal (E-3) to Private (E-1) and puts him on "shit-burning" detail. The punishments, combined with the heat, the boredom, and Swofford's suspicions of his girlfriend's infidelity, give Swofford a mental breakdown, to the point where he threatens Fergus with his rifle, then orders Fergus to shoot him instead.
Some time later, Operation Desert Storm begins and the Marines are deployed to the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. Swofford learns from Sykes that Troy concealed his criminal record when enlisting and will be discharged when the unit returns to the States. Troy becomes distant from his friends. Knowing that Troy will never be allowed to reenlist, the Marines attack him with a red-hot USMC branding iron, marking him as one of their own. Following an accidental air attack from friendly forces, the Marines advance through the desert, facing no enemies on the ground. The troops march through the Highway of Death, strewn with the burnt vehicles and charred bodies of retreating Iraqi soldiers, the aftermath of a U.S. bombing campaign. The Marines later suddenly catch sight of distant burning oil wells, ignited only moments before by the retreating Iraqis, and they attempt to dig sleeping holes as a rain of crude oil falls from the sky. Before they can finish, Sykes orders the squad to move upwind.
Swofford and Troy are finally given a sniper mission. Lieutenant Colonel Kazinski, their battalion commander, orders them to kill at least one of two high-ranking officers of Saddam's Republican Guard who have holed up at a nearby airfield. At the last split second before Swofford takes the shot, Major Lincoln (Dennis Haysbert) interrupts them to call in an air strike. Swofford and Troy protest, but are overruled and look on in disappointment as the planes destroy the Iraqi airfield.
On returning home the troops parade through the towns in a jovial celebration of victory. Swofford returns home to his family and girlfriend but discovers her with a new boyfriend. Fowler is seen with a prostitute in a bar, Kruger (Lucas Black) in a corporate boardroom, Escobar (Laz Alonso) as a supermarket employee, Cortez (Jacob Vargas) as a father of three, and Sykes continuing his service as a First Sergeant in Operation Iraqi Freedom. An unspecified amount of time later, Swofford learns of Troy's death during a surprise visit from Fergus. He attends the funeral, reunites with some of his old friends and afterwards reminisces about the effects of the war.
§Cast[edit]
Jake Gyllenhaal as Pvt/LCpl Anthony Swofford
Peter Sarsgaard as Cpl Alan Troy
Jamie Foxx as SSgt Sykes
Chris Cooper as LtCol Kazinski
Brian Geraghty as PFC Fergus O'Donnell
Lucas Black as LCpl Chris Kruger
Evan Jones as PFC Dave Fowler
Laz Alonso as LCpl Ramon Escobar
Jacob Vargas as LCpl Juan Cortez
John Krasinski as Cpl Harrigan
Dennis Haysbert as Major Lincoln
Iván Fenyő as Pinko
Brianne Davis as Kristina
Martin Papazian as Brian Dettman
Scott MacDonald as D.I., SSgt Fitch
James Morrison as Old Mr. Swofford
Rini Bell as Swoff's sister
Jocko Sims as Julius
Steve Nguyen as Recruit
Damion Poitier as Marine #1
Michael Mercurio as Marine #2
§Release[edit]
§Critical response[edit]
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics, registering a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[2] Roger Ebert gave the movie three-and-a-half out of four stars, crediting it for its unique portrayal of Gulf War Marines who battled boredom and a sense of isolation rather than enemy combatants.[3] Entertainment Weekly magazine gave the film a "B+" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote:

Jarhead isn't overtly political, yet by evoking the almost surreal futility of men whose lust for victory through action is dashed, at every turn, by the tactics, terrain, and morality of the war they're in, it sets up a powerfully resonant echo of the one we're in today.[4]
In his review for the Washington Post, Stephen Hunter praised Jake Gyllenhaal's performance: "What's so good about the movie is Gyllenhaal's refusal to show off; he doesn't seem jealous of the camera's attention when it goes to others and is content, for long stretches, to serve simply as a prism through which other young men can be observed".[5] Sight and Sound magazine's Leslie Felperin wrote, "If nothing else, Jarhead provides some kind of reportage of a war whose consequences we haven't yet begun to understand, a war now elbowed into history by its still-raging sequel".[6] USA Today gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "What we're left with is solid if not exceptional, though it's good to see Mendes expanding as a filmmaker".[7] Time magazine's Richard Schickel wrote, "But the best war movies—and this one, despite its being overlong and repetitive, is among them—hold that men fight (or in this case, are ready to fight) not for causes, but to survive and to help their comrades do the same".[8]
However, in his review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott felt that the film was "full of intensity with almost no real visceral impact", and called it "a minor movie about a minor war, and a film that feels, at the moment, remarkably irrelevant".[9] Kenneth Turan in his review for the Los Angeles Times wrote:

Its polished surfaces and professional style can't compete with the gritty reality conveyed by documentaries like Gunner Palace and Occupation: Dreamland — or, for that matter, by the surreal black comedy of David O. Russell's Three Kings — that show in no uncertain terms what it's like to be a soldier in Iraq".[10]
In his review for the Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote, "A master of the monotone, Mendes prompts his performers to hit a note and sustain it. Although Jarhead is more visually accomplished and less empty than American Beauty or Road to Perdition, it still feels oppressively hermetic".[11]
Nathaniel Fick, another author who is a Marine, gave the film a mixed review (and panned the book on which it is based) in Slate. He wrote, "Jarhead also presents wild scenes that probably could happen in combat units, but strips them of the context that might explain how they're more than sheer lunacy".[12] James Meek, who reported from the battlefields of Iraq, reviewed the film in the pages of The Guardian. He wrote, "The key to a film about war is how it ends, and if the young man at the film's centre is lifted out of the battlefield uninjured and sane, if his family and home life before and after aren't prominent in the picture, the movie is diminished as a film which says something about war and becomes a simpler story of growing up, of jeopardy overcome".[13]
§Baghdad Express[edit]
In a New York Times article, it was noted that war veteran and writer Joel Turnipseed felt that parts of the film's plot had been taken from his 2002 book Baghdad Express: A Gulf War Memoir, without his consent. Jarhead screenwriter William Broyles Jr. claimed that many similarities arise from the retelling of common Marine experiences.[14] Joel Turnipseed himself has been an occasional contributor to the New York Times.[15]
§Accolades[edit]
§Wins[edit]
San Diego Film Critics Society Special Award for Body of Work (Jake Gyllenhaal) (Also for Brokeback Mountain and Proof)
§Nominations[edit]
Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award for Contemporary Feature Film (Dennis Gassner, Stefan Dechant, Christina Wilson, Marco Niro, A. Todd Holland, Christopher Tandon)
Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Jamie Foxx)
Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama (Jake Gyllenhaal)
Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama (Peter Sarsgaard)
Satellite Award for Outstanding Film Editing (Walter Murch)
Satellite Award for Outstanding Screenplay, Adapted (William Broyles Jr.)
Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture (Pablo Helman, Jeanie King, Grady Cofer, Brett Northcutt)
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor (Peter Sarsgaard)
§Sequel[edit]
Main article: Jarhead 2: Field of Fire
A direct-to-video sequel starring Josh Kelly, Stephen Lang and Cole Hauser was released on August 19, 2014.
§References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Jarhead (2005)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
2.Jump up ^ "Jarhead". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
3.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (2005-11-04). "Jarhead :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
4.Jump up ^ Gleiberman, Owen (2005-11-02). "'Jarhead' Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
5.Jump up ^ Hunter, Stephen (2005-11-04). "'Jarhead': A Platoon Full of Sand And Grit". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
6.Jump up ^ Felperin, Leslie (January 2006). "The Longest Days". Sight and Sound. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
7.Jump up ^ Clark, Mike (2005-11-04). "A few good men give 'Jarhead' a solid feel". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
8.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard (2005-11-02). "In the Eye of Desert Storm". Time. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
9.Jump up ^ Scott, A.O. (2005-11-04). "Soldiers in the Desert, Antsy and Apolitical". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
10.Jump up ^ Turan, Kenneth (2005-11-04). "'Jarhead'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-05-29.[dead link]
11.Jump up ^ Hoberman, J (2005-10-25). "Weathering the Storm". Village Voice. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
12.Jump up ^ Fick, Nathaniel (2005-11-09). "How Accurate Is Jarhead?". Slate. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
13.Jump up ^ Meek, James (2005-12-16). "Visions of hell". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2009-05-29.
14.Jump up ^ Carr, David (2005-11-09). "'Jarhead': Whose Stories Are They?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
15.Jump up ^ Turnipseed, Joel (2010-04-18). "Collateral Damage". The New York Times.
§External links[edit]

Portal icon Film portal
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Jarhead (film)
Official website
Jarhead at the Internet Movie Database
Jarhead at AllMovie
Jarhead at Rotten Tomatoes


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Films directed by Sam Mendes


American Beauty (1999) ·
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Categories: 2005 films
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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarhead_(film)












Jarhead (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Jarhead
Jarhead.jpg
Original theatrical poster

Directed by
Sam Mendes
Produced by
Douglas Wick
 Lucy Fisher
Screenplay by
William Broyles, Jr.
Based on
Jarhead
 by Anthony Swofford
Starring
Jake Gyllenhaal
Peter Sarsgaard
Chris Cooper
Jamie Foxx
Music by
Thomas Newman
Cinematography
Roger Deakins
Edited by
Walter Murch
Distributed by
Universal Pictures

Release dates

November 4, 2005 (United States)
November 5, 2005 (Germany)


Running time
 123 minutes
Country
United States
 Germany
Language
English
Arabic
Budget
$72 million
Box office
$96,889,998[1]
Jarhead is a 2005 biographical drama war film based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 2003 memoir of the same name, directed by Sam Mendes, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford with Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard and Chris Cooper. The title comes from the slang term used to refer to United States Marines.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Release 3.1 Critical response
3.2 Baghdad Express
4 Accolades 4.1 Wins
4.2 Nominations
5 Sequel
6 References
7 External links

§Plot[edit]
In 1989, Anthony "Swoff" Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) attends basic Marine Corps training before being stationed at Camp Pendleton. Claiming that he enlisted in the military because "he got lost on the way to college," Swofford finds his time at Camp Pendleton difficult, and struggles to make friends. While Swofford feigns illness to avoid his responsibilities, a "lifer", Marine Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx), takes note of his potential and orders Swofford to attend his Scout Sniper course.
After grueling training, the Scout Sniper course is left with eight candidates, among them Swofford, now a sniper, and Swofford's roommate Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) who becomes his spotter. When Iraq invades Kuwait, Swofford's unit is deployed to the Persian Gulf as a part of Operation Desert Shield. Eager for combat, the Marines find themselves bored with remedial training, constant drills, and a routine monotony that feeds their boredom, and prompts them to talk about the unfaithful girlfriends and wives waiting for them at home. They even erect a bulletin board featuring photographs and brief notes telling what perfidies the women had committed.
Swofford obtains unauthorized alcohol and organizes an impromptu Christmas party, arranging for Fergus (Brian Geraghty) to cover his watch so he can celebrate. Fergus accidentally sets fire to a tent and ignites a crate of flares, waking the whole camp and enraging Staff Sergeant Sykes, who demotes Swofford from Lance Corporal (E-3) to Private (E-1) and puts him on "shit-burning" detail. The punishments, combined with the heat, the boredom, and Swofford's suspicions of his girlfriend's infidelity, give Swofford a mental breakdown, to the point where he threatens Fergus with his rifle, then orders Fergus to shoot him instead.
Some time later, Operation Desert Storm begins and the Marines are deployed to the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. Swofford learns from Sykes that Troy concealed his criminal record when enlisting and will be discharged when the unit returns to the States. Troy becomes distant from his friends. Knowing that Troy will never be allowed to reenlist, the Marines attack him with a red-hot USMC branding iron, marking him as one of their own. Following an accidental air attack from friendly forces, the Marines advance through the desert, facing no enemies on the ground. The troops march through the Highway of Death, strewn with the burnt vehicles and charred bodies of retreating Iraqi soldiers, the aftermath of a U.S. bombing campaign. The Marines later suddenly catch sight of distant burning oil wells, ignited only moments before by the retreating Iraqis, and they attempt to dig sleeping holes as a rain of crude oil falls from the sky. Before they can finish, Sykes orders the squad to move upwind.
Swofford and Troy are finally given a sniper mission. Lieutenant Colonel Kazinski, their battalion commander, orders them to kill at least one of two high-ranking officers of Saddam's Republican Guard who have holed up at a nearby airfield. At the last split second before Swofford takes the shot, Major Lincoln (Dennis Haysbert) interrupts them to call in an air strike. Swofford and Troy protest, but are overruled and look on in disappointment as the planes destroy the Iraqi airfield.
On returning home the troops parade through the towns in a jovial celebration of victory. Swofford returns home to his family and girlfriend but discovers her with a new boyfriend. Fowler is seen with a prostitute in a bar, Kruger (Lucas Black) in a corporate boardroom, Escobar (Laz Alonso) as a supermarket employee, Cortez (Jacob Vargas) as a father of three, and Sykes continuing his service as a First Sergeant in Operation Iraqi Freedom. An unspecified amount of time later, Swofford learns of Troy's death during a surprise visit from Fergus. He attends the funeral, reunites with some of his old friends and afterwards reminisces about the effects of the war.
§Cast[edit]
Jake Gyllenhaal as Pvt/LCpl Anthony Swofford
Peter Sarsgaard as Cpl Alan Troy
Jamie Foxx as SSgt Sykes
Chris Cooper as LtCol Kazinski
Brian Geraghty as PFC Fergus O'Donnell
Lucas Black as LCpl Chris Kruger
Evan Jones as PFC Dave Fowler
Laz Alonso as LCpl Ramon Escobar
Jacob Vargas as LCpl Juan Cortez
John Krasinski as Cpl Harrigan
Dennis Haysbert as Major Lincoln
Iván Fenyő as Pinko
Brianne Davis as Kristina
Martin Papazian as Brian Dettman
Scott MacDonald as D.I., SSgt Fitch
James Morrison as Old Mr. Swofford
Rini Bell as Swoff's sister
Jocko Sims as Julius
Steve Nguyen as Recruit
Damion Poitier as Marine #1
Michael Mercurio as Marine #2
§Release[edit]
§Critical response[edit]
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics, registering a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[2] Roger Ebert gave the movie three-and-a-half out of four stars, crediting it for its unique portrayal of Gulf War Marines who battled boredom and a sense of isolation rather than enemy combatants.[3] Entertainment Weekly magazine gave the film a "B+" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote:

Jarhead isn't overtly political, yet by evoking the almost surreal futility of men whose lust for victory through action is dashed, at every turn, by the tactics, terrain, and morality of the war they're in, it sets up a powerfully resonant echo of the one we're in today.[4]
In his review for the Washington Post, Stephen Hunter praised Jake Gyllenhaal's performance: "What's so good about the movie is Gyllenhaal's refusal to show off; he doesn't seem jealous of the camera's attention when it goes to others and is content, for long stretches, to serve simply as a prism through which other young men can be observed".[5] Sight and Sound magazine's Leslie Felperin wrote, "If nothing else, Jarhead provides some kind of reportage of a war whose consequences we haven't yet begun to understand, a war now elbowed into history by its still-raging sequel".[6] USA Today gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "What we're left with is solid if not exceptional, though it's good to see Mendes expanding as a filmmaker".[7] Time magazine's Richard Schickel wrote, "But the best war movies—and this one, despite its being overlong and repetitive, is among them—hold that men fight (or in this case, are ready to fight) not for causes, but to survive and to help their comrades do the same".[8]
However, in his review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott felt that the film was "full of intensity with almost no real visceral impact", and called it "a minor movie about a minor war, and a film that feels, at the moment, remarkably irrelevant".[9] Kenneth Turan in his review for the Los Angeles Times wrote:

Its polished surfaces and professional style can't compete with the gritty reality conveyed by documentaries like Gunner Palace and Occupation: Dreamland — or, for that matter, by the surreal black comedy of David O. Russell's Three Kings — that show in no uncertain terms what it's like to be a soldier in Iraq".[10]
In his review for the Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote, "A master of the monotone, Mendes prompts his performers to hit a note and sustain it. Although Jarhead is more visually accomplished and less empty than American Beauty or Road to Perdition, it still feels oppressively hermetic".[11]
Nathaniel Fick, another author who is a Marine, gave the film a mixed review (and panned the book on which it is based) in Slate. He wrote, "Jarhead also presents wild scenes that probably could happen in combat units, but strips them of the context that might explain how they're more than sheer lunacy".[12] James Meek, who reported from the battlefields of Iraq, reviewed the film in the pages of The Guardian. He wrote, "The key to a film about war is how it ends, and if the young man at the film's centre is lifted out of the battlefield uninjured and sane, if his family and home life before and after aren't prominent in the picture, the movie is diminished as a film which says something about war and becomes a simpler story of growing up, of jeopardy overcome".[13]
§Baghdad Express[edit]
In a New York Times article, it was noted that war veteran and writer Joel Turnipseed felt that parts of the film's plot had been taken from his 2002 book Baghdad Express: A Gulf War Memoir, without his consent. Jarhead screenwriter William Broyles Jr. claimed that many similarities arise from the retelling of common Marine experiences.[14] Joel Turnipseed himself has been an occasional contributor to the New York Times.[15]
§Accolades[edit]
§Wins[edit]
San Diego Film Critics Society Special Award for Body of Work (Jake Gyllenhaal) (Also for Brokeback Mountain and Proof)
§Nominations[edit]
Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award for Contemporary Feature Film (Dennis Gassner, Stefan Dechant, Christina Wilson, Marco Niro, A. Todd Holland, Christopher Tandon)
Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Jamie Foxx)
Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama (Jake Gyllenhaal)
Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama (Peter Sarsgaard)
Satellite Award for Outstanding Film Editing (Walter Murch)
Satellite Award for Outstanding Screenplay, Adapted (William Broyles Jr.)
Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture (Pablo Helman, Jeanie King, Grady Cofer, Brett Northcutt)
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor (Peter Sarsgaard)
§Sequel[edit]
Main article: Jarhead 2: Field of Fire
A direct-to-video sequel starring Josh Kelly, Stephen Lang and Cole Hauser was released on August 19, 2014.
§References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Jarhead (2005)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
2.Jump up ^ "Jarhead". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
3.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (2005-11-04). "Jarhead :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
4.Jump up ^ Gleiberman, Owen (2005-11-02). "'Jarhead' Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
5.Jump up ^ Hunter, Stephen (2005-11-04). "'Jarhead': A Platoon Full of Sand And Grit". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
6.Jump up ^ Felperin, Leslie (January 2006). "The Longest Days". Sight and Sound. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
7.Jump up ^ Clark, Mike (2005-11-04). "A few good men give 'Jarhead' a solid feel". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
8.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard (2005-11-02). "In the Eye of Desert Storm". Time. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
9.Jump up ^ Scott, A.O. (2005-11-04). "Soldiers in the Desert, Antsy and Apolitical". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
10.Jump up ^ Turan, Kenneth (2005-11-04). "'Jarhead'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-05-29.[dead link]
11.Jump up ^ Hoberman, J (2005-10-25). "Weathering the Storm". Village Voice. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
12.Jump up ^ Fick, Nathaniel (2005-11-09). "How Accurate Is Jarhead?". Slate. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
13.Jump up ^ Meek, James (2005-12-16). "Visions of hell". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2009-05-29.
14.Jump up ^ Carr, David (2005-11-09). "'Jarhead': Whose Stories Are They?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
15.Jump up ^ Turnipseed, Joel (2010-04-18). "Collateral Damage". The New York Times.
§External links[edit]

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Films directed by Sam Mendes


American Beauty (1999) ·
 Road to Perdition (2002) ·
 Jarhead (2005) ·
 Revolutionary Road (2008) ·
 Away We Go (2009) ·
 Skyfall (2012) ·
 Spectre (2015)
 

  


Categories: 2005 films
2000s drama films
2000s war films
American drama films
American war films
English-language films
Films based on non-fiction books
Films directed by Sam Mendes
Films set in 1989
Films set in 1990
Films set in Kuwait
Films set in the United States
Films shot in New Mexico
Films shot in Arizona
Films shot in California
Films shot in Mexico
Gulf War films
United States Marine Corps in popular culture
War films based on actual events
Film scores by Thomas Newman
Iraq War films






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