A 1987 war film — considered to be one of the greatest of all time — is now streaming on Netflix for fans to watch.
Directed and produced by the legendary Stanley Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket is based on Gustav Hasford’s 1979 autobiographical novel, The Short-Timers, and has a screenplay adapted for the big screen by Hasford, Michael Herr, and Kubrick himself.
The movie’s title is a nod to the full metal jacket bullet that is used by servicemen in the military. It was the very last film of the iconic filmmaker to be released while he was still alive.
Made on a production budget of $16.5-30 million, Full Metal Jacket grossed a whopping $120 million at the global box office. Receiving widespread critical acclaim, the war film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. It also received two BAFTA nominations.
The official plot of the film says: “Stanley Kubrick’s take on the Vietnam War follows smart-aleck Private Davis, quickly christened “Joker” by his foul-mouthed drill sergeant, and pudgy Private Lawrence, nicknamed “Gomer Pyle,” as they endure the rigors of basic training. Though Pyle takes a frightening detour, Joker graduates to the Marine Corps and is sent to Vietnam as a journalist, covering — and eventually participating in — the bloody Battle of Hué.”
Full Metal Jacket stars Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio, Arliss Howard, and Dorian Harewood. For his casting process, Kubrick used videotapes for auditions, receiving more than 3,000 submissions. After his team narrowed the pool, he personally reviewed the remaining 800 tapes to finalise his stellar cast.
Principal filming of the movie took place in Cambridgeshire, the Norfolk Broads, and in East London’s Isle of Dogs, Millennium Mills, and Beckton Gas Works in Newham.
With a 94 per cent audience approval rating and 90 per cent critics approval rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Full Metal Jacket fared exceptionally well with both critics and fans.
While one reviewer wrote: “A hard-hitting movie laced with moments of dark humour and brimming with social commentary, Full Metal Jacket is viewed as one of the all-time great war movie.”
Another critic said: “Full Metal Jacket, produced, directed and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, is not an easy film to watch, but from the first frame to the last, it is a riveting one.”
A third reviewer said of the film: “Visually poetic, darkly humorous, uncompromisingly brutal, and subversive in every way, Full Metal Jacket is easily one of the best war movies without being remotely similar to your standard issue war flick.”
One fan couldn’t stop gushing about the film as they said: “In my opinion, it’s the best movie I have ever seen so far in my life. Its ability to portray the nature of war is unparalleled to anything I have ever seen. Brutal, visceral and raw this movie has all the components necessary for a spectacular war epic.”
In a glowing review, another viewer wrote: “The most I can describe it as is an absolute masterpiece. I understand where some of the negativity comes from, and the movie is definitely not perfect but I genuinely could not look away from the screen when watching.
“The portrayal of war in this movie genuinely shocks me in the same way Saving Private Ryan did, both of them being great movies. If you ever get the chance to, please go watch this movie.”
Or as one fan put it simply: “Cinematic brilliance and it will stick with you the rest of your life.”
Full Metal Jacket is currently available to stream on Netflix.