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Jarhead

Jarhead (2005)

tomatometer

61

Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 195
Fresh: 119 | Rotten: 76

This first person account of the first Gulf War scores with its performances and cinematography but lacks an emotional thrust.

54

Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 19

This first person account of the first Gulf War scores with its performances and cinematography but lacks an emotional thrust.

audience

68

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 367,467

My Rating

Movie Info

A young man gets a crash course in the madness of war in this fact-based drama from director Sam Mendes. Anthony "Swoff" Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) decides to join the Marines, just like his father and his father before him, and signs on just in time to be sent to Iraq to fight in the Gulf War in 1991. After experiencing the rigors of boot camp, Swofford and his pal Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) are trained to be snipers, and under the leadership of Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx) and Lt. Col. Kazinski (Chris

R, 2 hr. 2 min.

Drama

William Broyles

Mar 7, 2006

$62.6M

Universal Pictures

Cast

All Critics (196) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (126) | Rotten (77) | DVD (36)

Jarhead is utterly predictable (boys endure tough training; boys encounter another culture and are baffled), studded with first-rate performances.

December 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a very strong film with really good performances.

November 7, 2005 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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 though which other young men can be observed.

November 4, 2005 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Director Sam Mendes' third screen outing pretty well nails Swofford's tone, which was mordant without being disrespectful, and, in fact, is begrudgingly reverent of the Corps.

November 4, 2005 Full Review Source: USA Today | Comment
USA Today
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Jarhead makes its points less obviously than most war films, and with more brains than blood.

November 4, 2005 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comments (2)
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

November 4, 2005 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Slick military faux-criticism

September 1, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

For some it's an anti-war message, for others it's just a non-biased portrait of a man who never went to war despite being in the military during war time.

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

Intelligent and bleak; for mature audiences only.

July 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Sporadically entertaining, and ultimately pointless -- although that seems to be its agenda right from the start.

January 15, 2008 Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | Comment
Dark Horizons

As a depressive riff on Generation X's first war...it's exceptionally well-crafted.

September 24, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

As usual, when the US makes war against the rest of the world, it's the artist who steps up to the plate to expose the lies and senseless tragedy, not the faint of heart or soul politicians and media.

August 8, 2007 Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | Comment
WBAI Web Radio

What little statement the film makes revolves around the absurdity of these men, trained to shoot with ultimate precision, and never given the chance to fire off a round.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment
Big Picture Big Sound

As time passes, waiting for orders becomes like waiting for Godot, an absurdist tragicomedy of frustration, madness and masculinity gone awry.

July 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film | Comment
Eye for Film

A series of disjointed, shocking, and often unintentionally-humorous vignettes designed to celebrate boy-boy camaraderie while fomenting anti-Arab sentiments in the name of God, mom, and Apple Pie.

May 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Upstage Magazine | Comment (1)
Upstage Magazine

The principal extra on that disc is a pair of full-length audio commentaries.

May 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | Comment
Apollo Guide

The first 20 minutes of have masterpiece written all over them, unfortunately, that fire peters out quite constantly until the film comes to a near flat lining ending.

April 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | Comment
Hollywood Report Card

As usual, when the US makes war against the rest of the world, it's the artist who steps up to the plate to expose the lies and senseless tragedy, not the faint of heart or soul politicians and media.

February 10, 2007 Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | Comment
WBAI Web Radio

full review in Greek

October 3, 2006 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | Comment
Movies for the Masses

Jarhead is simultaneously audaciously original and so mired in the clichés it knowingly acknowledges, sends up and honours that it has little new to say.

September 28, 2006 Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | Comment
Sight and Sound

Thanks to its poignancy and expert crafting, Jarhead could become a classic war drama -- one that speaks for a new era of soldier and worldliness.

September 25, 2006 Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Jarhead

Entirely predictable first-person account of a marine's experiences around Desert Storm. Ambivalent and unengaging.

March 25, 2007
brooklynspo

Super Reviewer

i almost gor drafted last year so this is like a horror movie

June 3, 2009
LoughnerWasLucid

Super Reviewer

    1. Staff Sergeant Sykes: [to the dead marine] I told you to keep your fucking head down! If you'd listened to me, you'd still be fucking alive right now, stupid fuck!
    – Submitted by stu c (8 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Jarhead - la fin de l'innocence (FR)
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