Jarhead

Theatrical Release Date: 2005 11 04 (USA)

UPC: 025192508028

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Nudity, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Adult Humor, Profanity, War Violence]

Summary: 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 Cooper), the two land in the middle of a desert where they're up against an enemy they can't always see under a blazing sun with hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Swofford, Troy, and their fellow soldiers rely on the wits, their sense of humor, and their friendship of their brothers in arms to deal with a situation that doesn't much resemble what they saw on television at home. Jarhead was based on the memoirs of the real-life Anthony Swofford, who did serve as a sniper in the 1991 Gulf War; the title comes from military slang for a Marine enlistee. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: War

Awards: Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film – Art Directors Guild

Jarhead

Format: Universal Media Disc

Release Date: 03/07/2006

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 123 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Perry Seibert

Sam Mendes' Jarhead does not tell a new story. Countless other films have shown how war affects soldiers. Mendes is savvy enough to know this and goes so far as to reference Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now early in the film almost as a way of admitting how pedestrian his basic story is. What sets this film apart is that although the story is old, the characters are new. The characters played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard become real people over the course of the film, making their experiences all the more compelling to an audience. In addition to developing a pair of specific characters, the film smartly teaches the audience more than a few aspects of what daily life was like during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The film demonstrates the pent-up energy of young men not allowed the release of either sex or war. The soldier's unique war experience is expressed beautifully in the film's final act when, once the men actually get close to real combat, cinematographer Roger Deakins lights the film by the shifting light from fires that burn in sabotaged oil fields. There has never been a film sequence that looks like that one does, just as there has never been a war film quite like Jarhead. The film lacks profundity, but it does contain a specificity that makes it a compelling experience. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Thomas Newman  Composer (Music Score) 
Doug Wick  Producer 
Sam Mercer  Executive Producer 
Bobby Cohen  Executive Producer 
William Broyles  Screenwriter 
Sam Mendes  Director 
Lucy Fisher  Producer 
Jake Gyllenhaal  Actor 
Peter Sarsgaard  Actor 
Lucas Black  Actor 
Brian Geraghty  Actor 
Jacob Vargas  Actor 
Laz Alonso  Actor 
Evan Jones  Actor 
Chris Cooper  Actor 
Dennis Haysbert  Actor 
Jamie Foxx  Actor 
Scott MacDonald  Actor 
Ming Lo  Actor 
Kevin Foster  Actor 
Damion Poitier  Actor 
Riad Galayini  Actor 
Craig Coyne  Actor 
Rini Bell  Actor 
Dendrie Allyn Taylor  Actor 
James Morrison  Actor 
Arman Zajic  Actor 
Brianne Davis  Actor 
Brian Casey  Actor 
Ernest Ozuna  Actor 
Tyler Sedustine  Actor 
Jocko Sims  Actor 
Jonathon R. Mize  Actor 
Joel Prato  Actor 
Kristin Richardson  Actor 
Ivan Fenyo  Actor 
Peter Gail  Actor 
Jaimie Martz  Actor 
Kareem J. Grimes  Actor 
Donna Kimball  Actor 
Marty Papazian  Actor 
Mark Davis  Actor 
John Krasinski  Actor 
Christian Reeve  Actor 
Mike Akrawi  Actor 
Toufiq Tulsiram  Actor 
Jubin K.  Actor 
Hari Bali  Actor 
Kurt Larson  Actor 
Ammar Daraiesh  Actor 
Al Faris  Actor 
V.J. Foster  Actor 

Country: USA