Jarhead
Starring Oscar winner Jamie Foxx (Ray, Collateral) and Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain, Proof), and directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, The Road to Perdition), Jarhead is an irreverent and edgy look at modern warfare from a soldier’s point of view.
Adapted from Anthony Swofford’s best-selling memoir by Academy Award-winning screenwriter and ex-Marine pilot William Broyles, Jr. (Apollo 13, Cast Away), Jarhead is a highly relevant, and confronting tale that brings the gut-wrenching and frightening emotional experiences of war to the forefront.
The film follows “Swoff” (Jake Gyllenhaal), a naïve young recruit and his platoon mates from the intensity and camaraderie of boot camp to being shipped to a lonely outpost in a surreal desert setting.
Jarhead delivers a militantly apolitical story of hope, frustration, bonding and survival, loaded with first-rate performances from a stellar cast including Peter Sarsgaard (Kinsey, Garden State) and Academy Award winner Chris Cooper (Seabiscuit, The Bourne Identity).
Special Features:
- Swoff's Fantasies with Commentary by Director Sam Mendes and Editor Walter Murch
- News Interviews in Full with Commentary by Director Sam Mendes and Editor Walter Murch
- Deleted Scenes with Introduction by Director Sam Mendes and Editor Walter Murch
- Feature Commentary with Director Sam Mendes
- Feature Commentary with Screenwriter William Broyles, Jr. & Author Anthony Swofford
Critic Reviews:
- " These soldiers wanted action, any action, just to feel justified for the life they left behind and Mendes does a great job of showing that anguish. The cast is excellent, too. " – Micheal Compton
- " Thanks to its poignancy and expert crafting, Jarhead could become a classic war drama – one that speaks for a new era of soldier and worldliness. " – Todd Hertz
- " Jarhead takes a perverse pleasure in confounding your expectations of what a war movie should be. " – Paul Arendt