Jarhead (HD DVD)

Plot: What’s it about?

As a film critic, people often ask my opinions on movies. Naturally I point them to this site, but if they must – then I let them know what I think. Movies like “Jarhead” makes my job hard as film itself is subjective, but a war movie with no real action is certainly hard to classify as a war movie. Right? “Jarhead” is based on the best-selling book by Anthony Swofford (Gyllenhaal), a Marine sniper in the Gulf War. The movie is told through his point of view of him and the seven other snipers in his troop (“troop” might not be the correct word, I was never in the military so correct me if need be). I vividly remember the Gulf War – it started on January 17, 1991 – just about two weeks shy of my 18th birthday. I remember walking into my after school job and my boss saying “You ready to go to war?”. As history has told us, the war didn’t last very long and most of us watched it on CNN every night. “Jarhead” tells the tale of the frustration that our troops faced over there and that the only thing worse than war, is the lack of one when you expect it the most.

The film opens in 1989 as we meet Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has just enlisted in the Marines. He’s young and eager and ready to fight for his country. We see him go through the arduous process of boot camp and he even makes the cut to be one of the elite Marine snipers. Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx) is his parental figure throughout the film, both encouraging and discouraging Swofford throughout the cycle of the war. Swofford also bonds with Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) as they cope with being in Saudi Arabia and the thought of what their girlfriends are doing back at home.

“Jarhead” tells it like it is. And for a war movie, there’s not a whole lot of action but then again – not every war movie is like “Platoon”. Ironically enough, the movie pays homage to “Apocalypse Now” – another war movie that was more of a psychological voyage as opposed to the firing of guns. As far as the cast goes, it’s pretty much Gyllenhaal’s show from opening to close. Gyellenhaal has shown tremendous range as an actor and after last year’s “Brokeback Mountain”, there’s not a lot that the guy hasn’t done (at his young age). Director Sam Mendes has remained pretty true to the book and has faithfully re-created the Desert Shield/Storm atmosphere of 1991. I found myself instantly recognizing songs from the era and the Academy Award winning director has done a good job of portraying war (or lack thereof).

Video: How does it look?

I have to admit that I’ve become instantly spoiled by High Definition DVD. Even the best of my Standard Definition DVD’s don’t really hold a candle to what those extra few hundred lines of resolution can do to a picture. The 2.35:1 image is one of the more washed out images I’ve seen on screen. The bleakness of the Saudi Arabia desert is shown here with some very polarized images. Skin appears red and almost black in contrast to the white of the ground and the deep blues of the sky. This is the way it’s intended to look, of course. As with all HD-DVD’s, there’s really no problem with edge enhancement or any artifacting in the least. And that’s the best way I can describe HD. It’s not so much different that your jaw will drop, but it’s like finding a picture on the ground and cleaning all of the debris off of it. It’s just the best version of the movie and this is how it was meant to be seen.

Audio: How does it sound?

The Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack isn’t the most robust out there, but it does have some moments where it shines. As Gyllenhaal’s character admits near the end of the movie “I’ve never even fired my rifle” – we begin to realize that there isn’t a plethora of audio that will shake the room. That said, there are a few instances in which things explode and the audio is overall a strong track. Surrounds kick in from time to time, but don’t offer a whole lot of ambiance. To put it bluntly – this sounds about average, but it’s not the fault of the soundtrack; that’s just how it’s supposed to sound.

Supplements: What are the extras?

Again, the benefit of HD-DVD is that you get the best of what standard DVD has to offer (I’m sure that’ll change once the movie studios figure out how to double dip in this market, but for the time being – it’s nice). There were two versions of “Jarhead” on DVD: a basic edition and a two-disc set that had some more documentaries. This HD version contains all of the same supplements that the elusive two disc version had. We start out with a pair of commentary tracks, the first is with Director Sam Mendes and editor Walter Murch. It’s a good track, more technical in nature but by far the better of the two is the second with Anthony Swofford and William Broyles Jr., the screenwriter and a Vietnam Veteran himself. The disc also contains some twenty minutes of deleted scenes and even a section called “Swoff’s Fantasies” (the highlight of which is an exploding toilet). The three documentaries that were found on the two disc DVD are here: Jarhead Diaries, Semper Fi: Life After the Corps and Background are included in their entirety. Suffice it to say that you learn just about everything you can learn about the movie and the Marines in general. “Jarhead” might not be for everyone, but I found it an engaging (no pun intended) look at the military and great performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx.