Pandora's Box

I went with three of my boy-buddies (as opposed to "boyfriend") to see the movie Jarhead on Saturday. I have to admit, I was a bit apprehensive going to see a war movie, perhaps even more so being the only woman in a small crowd of men.

The movie started out with the homophobia and misogynism expected of the military, which made me all the more nervous about where the movie was going. But I have to say, in the end, despite its numerous negative reviews by film critics, I actually liked this film. The characters, including "the enemy" were fairly well humanized. I probably also liked it because there wasn't too much blood nor guts in it.

My boy-buddies' main criticism was that the film seemed to "steal" some content from Full Metal Jacket. Not having seen Full Metal Jacket myself, I couldn't account for that. But despite this criticism, they were unanimously in favor of this film, as well. I argued that some of the similarities between the films may have been due to the fact that both movies reflected the culture of the Marines and thus would be likely to have some common "cultural" themes. Of course, not having been in the Marines myself, I have no idea if this is true.

If you've seen this flick, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.