Full Metal Jacket

Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 British-American war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay by Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford was based on Hasford's novel The Short-Timers (1979). Its storyline follows a platoon of U.S. Marines through their training, primarily focusing on two privates, Joker and Pyle, who struggle to get through camp under their foul-mouthed drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, and the experiences of two of the platoon's Marines in the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The film's title refers to the full metal jacket bullet used by soldiers.

Plot
Stanley Kubrick's take on the Vietnam War follows smart-aleck Private Davis (Matthew Modine), quickly christened "Joker" by his foul-mouthed drill sergeant (R. Lee Ermey), and pudgy Private Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio), nicknamed "Gomer Pyle", as they endure the rigors of basic training. Though Pyle takes a frightening (and ultimately fatal) detour, Joker graduates to the Marine Corps and is sent to Vietnam as a journalist, covering - and eventually participating in - the bloody Battle of Hué City.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Well-written story.
 * 2) Cool reenactment scenes of the Vietnam War.
 * 3) Great acting all around.
 * 4) Lots of memorable quotes like "Holy Jesus. What is that?! What the F*CK is that?!"
 * 5) Good music throughout the film.
 * 6) The way the movie is divided between the soldier training and the fighting in Vietnam is perfect.
 * 7) Accurate depiction of how U.S. Marine boot camps were run.
 * 8) R. Lee Ermey does a great and memorable performance as Sgt. Hartman.
 * 9) One of the only Vietnam War films that focuses on urban combat rather than jungle combat.
 * 10) The scene where Joker finds Pyle in the bathroom is quite tense and well-done.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Hartman's death is pretty abrupt and stupid. He initially tells Pyle to put his gun down, but when Pyle points it at him, he then starts yelling and insults him and gets shot. Hartman, Pyle, and the shooting is never mentioned in the follow up Vietnam portion even though Joker witnessed all of this in front of him.
 * 2) While it has some memorable scenes (the Da Nang prostitute, the door gunner) the Vietnam portion isn't as memorable as the boot camp portion (sometimes feeling like two films were slapped together), largely due to the lack of Hartman and Private Pyle.
 * 3) The film can be interpreted as racist at certain points.

Trivia

 * R. Lee Ermey was one of the only actors in a Stanley Kubrick film who was allowed to go off-script, due to him being a real drill sergeant.
 * A novelty single, Full Metal Jacket (I Wanna Be Your Drill Instructor) was released to promote the film and features vocal samples from R. Lee Ermey. It was composed by Kubrick's daughter Vivian (credited as Abigail Mead) and reached #2 in the UK singles chart.
 * Roger Ebert infamously gave this a Thumbs Down on Siskel & Ebert, instead giving the Thumbs Up to Benji the Hunted. Gene Siskel then did an infamous rant to Ebert about it.