Jarhead is a film about a guy with nowhere else to go and his patience during operation desert storm. This film had potential to be quite good but there wasn’t enough content for it to be more than decent. There are several good moments, but it is mostly fine with a couple of slow scenes. The overarching narrative is interesting (though not exciting), but I feel it falls a little flat and doesn’t really set the film apart from any fairly typical war film. I wish there had been more character development as there is opportunity for growth for a few of the characters but it doesn’t really happen. I also wish that there was more of Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper as they could have raised this film up.
From my perspective this film would have been better suited as a miniseries that combined the Chernobyl and SAS rogue heroes (though that might just be wanting more of both of those things).
Overall, it has some good moments but if you want a film about a military sniper, you’re better off watching American Sniper.
Score:
Enjoyment: 6.9/10
Critically: 7.1/10
P.S. I should watch the Hurt Locker again.