I really enjoyed Jarhead. Gibbs is right in many ways. It is not a political movie. And I think that was deliberate and a good decision on the part of the film makers. Once your there on the ground the time for politics is over, everything else IS Bullsh*t. The film was about the characters. I know Gibbs said the characters were flat, and I can see how someone who isn't keyed in to the military would miss most of the characterization in the film. The characters were full and hauntingly familiar to me.
I wasn't in Desert Storm but I was in Iraqi Freedom and many of the things they said and did in Jarhead struck very close to home and were very true.
One of the main themes was the frustration warriors feel when they don't get to practice their art. When I was on the plane home, after 7 months in the desert before the war and a month in Baghdad during, I really struggled with the fact that I had never been shot at or shot at anyone. And I struggled with the fact that that bothered me. It should have been a relief right? It wasn't.
It would still bother me today if I hadn't gone to Afghanistan and filled in those blanks.
It was a great film. I wish they'd left the nudity to the imagination, but it was still great. It's important to remember that, unlike blackhawk down, it was based on a memoir. One man's experiences. If that man wasn't Audy Murphy or a member of Delta, the vast majority of the stories are not going to include gripping action sequences that seem crafted for an action film. They're going to look more like real life.
