“Every War is Different. Every War is the Same.” This quote from the movie could also relate to war movies too in a way. Jarhead, set in the time of the Gulf War, essentially gives the same message as any epic war movie like Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, and Full Metal Jacket: war changes you, and you are never the same after. You feel completely out of your comfort zone while you are in battle, but when you return from a war you can never really find the comfort zone you left behind. This is a gross oversimlification of the themes in the movie, as it is a very complex movie and very skillfully made, but the vibe and message of the film are quite similar to many of the great war films I’ve seen.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. The cinematography was phenomenal. The acting was excellent. Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance really impressed me; his protrayal of this character shows his versatility and talent (his role in this movie is completely different than the role he played in October Sky, and he did a fantastic job with both). The story was also pretty good; although, the film didn’t wrap up quite as well as I’d hoped.

That being said, this is not a movie I’d bring the kids to. There were a couple “interesting” sexual scenes that could have been left out of the movie and there was plenty of foul language too. In fact, if they had dropped as many regular bombs as they dropped F-bombs, they would have destroyed the entire Arabian Peninsula. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the movie. I recommend seeing it, as I am certain it will pull down some Oscar nominations.

Here’s the IMDb link and here is the offical movie site.