Every war is different. Every war is the same.
The futility of war is what Sam Mendes' Jarhead suggests is the pervading similarity in all combats.
Mendes' war is the first Gulf War in 1991, and his hero is 20-year-old Marine sniper Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenaal).
As Swofford reveals early on, he ended up enlisting in the marines because he made a wrong turn on his way to university. Actually, he was a third-generation marine who's determined not to disgrace his family.
Jarhead is a powerful, often harrowing look at combat, but it's also a familiar view recalling classic war films such as Apocalpyse Now, Platoon, Catch 22 and Full Metal Jacket.
The first 30 minutes show Swofford's basic training under career soldier Sgt. Stek (Jamie Foxx), who is determined to break his young stallions so he can instill in them true military spirit.
These scenes are clearly meant to mirror Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket but with even more crude humour and dehumanizing tactics. It's a performance that erases any trace of Foxx's comedic roots.
Gyllenhaal has never been better than he is in these scenes, but it's just a hint of what he delivers once he actually gets to the desert.
Swofford's best friend Troy is played by Peter Sarsgaard.
He takes Troy, and therefore the audience, on an emotional roller coaster ride.
There are many stunning moments in Jarhead, but this is a case of the whole not being the sum of its best parts.
Many films have shown that war is hell. Jarhead just manages to convey that Desert Storm was heck.
(This film is rated 18-A)
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