Jarhead

I saw Jarhead with my brother last night and I still haven't digested it enough to determine whether or not I liked it. It was an excellent film in the technical and craft realm. So that's points in it's favor. The acting was superb, more points. It had an interesting idea to communicate, more points. Mendes ended on a Tom Waits song, double points there. Sometimes though, it seemed so structurally similar to Full Metal Jacket... Other times it seemed like Three Kings... I don't know...

I just don't know.

Something about it just hasn't settled. It's a good film, it's well put together. But did I like it?

I think so.

There was only one problem with it, and I knew going that this would be a problem, was an introspective voice-over ending the film that told me exactly how I was supposed to feel and what I was supposed to get. Mendes is such a great filmmaker, I feel like he's pandering to idiots who stray into his films instead of his actual audience. Anyone with half a brain will understand the point he's getting at because he chooses his shots so carefully and Walter Murch assembled them with such beauty. But every single movie he's done, he takes the low road and narrates the ending. American Beauty. Road to Perdition. Jarhead.

None of them leave me room to get out of them what I want, instead they tell me what I need to get.

Please, Mr. Mendes, stop doing it. We're smart. Give us some credit. I promise we'll use it wisely.

I think I liked it. It was good. You have to go see it.