Movie-Jarhead

Made in 2005, Jarhead seems to me a pre-cursor for the Academy Award winning The Hurt Locker.

While Jarhead deals with a different Iraqi war, there are great similarities between the two films, both dealing with the internal fight that goes on in a soldier, as much as the external fight he is involved in.

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx, among others, the film redefined Gyllenhaal as a hunk. And it also boasted his dramatic prowess, as he plays a Marine sniper, Anthony Swofford, going to the Middle East to push back Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. His mental state, from utter boredom to utter terror are played very well by Gyllenhaal. And his reaction, as well as those of the men around him, illustrate a toll not often accounted for in wars, the toll on the minds and souls of those who participate in the killing and destruction.

It is a movie about war, sure, but more about what happens to the soldiers in the war. The tension at times is unbearable, and not just in the few times the movie depicts fighting. But the tension of the boredom and loneliness and being out of normal society.

The Hurt Locker got it even better, and I think it owes a debt of gratitude to jarhead for that. But Jarhead tells a story as compelling and maybe a mite more personal. It is a very good movie, and Gyllenhaal was very good in it.