Friday, November 25, 2005

Stupidity Abounds...

So Mike and I go to see Jarhead at the 8:00pm showtime tonight. We know what kind of movie it is because we know the director, the cinematographer, even the composer. We know it's a serious movie about the inner struggle a soldier faced with realities of life and war has to deal with...

Ok, everyone else in the theater thought it was a fun comedic "buddy" flick. All the girls were giggling cause you saw some cute hinnie in the showers, and the men were cracking up everytime someone barked a loud profanity at a private. No one got what the movie was really about. In fact someone brought an effing 8 year old to the R rated movie, and there were some scenes that made me uncomfortable because that kid was right in front of me and I wanted to give her a fiver and send her for some popcorn.

There were some lighter moments, but those were to offset the serious drama that everyone ignored but Mike and I. You saw soldiers lose it, like have a meltdown and people laughed at them, and I wanted to stand up and yell, "Don't you stupid people get it?! There are soldiers out there having experiences we can't understand all so you can buy a ticket to watch a movie based on a true account of a solider's tour of duty and just yuck it up and totally miss the point of the whole thing!"

And it was a great movie, too. It had no political agenda, not pro war/ not anti war. I think every war has soldiers that were made for it and others that realize that war wasn't what they thought it would be. It's not that they couldn't cut it either. In this war the soldier was trained and trained to be a sniper, but when the war ended he hadn't gotten to actually fight anyone. What does a marine trained to kill do alone in the desert with no one to fight while he worries his girlfriend is screwing around back at home?

It reminded me more of Full Metal Jacket and Apocolypse Now. There was some fighting, but mostly it was about the preparaiton of a soldier and what that soldier undergoes in war.

I recommend seeing it... just rent out the theater so you don't have the cheezy laugh track ;)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahhh....the snack bar scenes. I remember those. Even today during a steamy scence in a movie, I get a strong urge for nachos, sweetarts and a cherry coke.

-lil bro

Regan said...

Hahahaha...

To this day, when I hear "Take my breath away" from Top Gun I get an urge for buttery popcorn!

It was thought provoking wondering what a kid that young would even make sense of in some of those scenes. She may never look at the army the same way again!