Full Metal Jacket - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Full Metal Jacket



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I am Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be 'Sir." Do you maggots understand that?"

Some movies are just epically quotable, and other movies are just epic. Luckily Stanley Kubrick’s infamous anti-war film Full Metal Jacket is a mixture of both. The opening scene with the gunnery Sgt. Has to be one of the most quote scenes in history, and by golly it sticks close REAL boot camp training too. The film garnered many awards over it’s life time, and it was the movie that my mother showed my brother when he said he wanted to join the Marines. It’s sad, vicious, completely enthralling, and manages to fulfill it’s purpose about warning of the horrors of war without being a preachy film. That alone was one of the biggest feats of all times, as most Anti-war films are generally overly preachy and one sided. Kubrick deftly weaves machoism and wartime fantasy in with some horrific experiences that leave the audience questioning their own excitement from the previous hours. All the while not feeling like he’s taking political sides.


Much like The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket is more than a war movie, but a movie about life away from war and the devastating effects it can have on people’s psyche. The first 45 minutes of the film aren’t even outside of the country, as we watch a group of new recruits including Private “Joker” (Matthew Modine) and Private Leonard “Gomer Pyle” (Vincent D’Onofrio) struggle through bootcamp. Private Joker is the quintessential boot, adapting quickly to military life and rising up to leadership quite quickly. Gomer is the exact opposite. He’s a bit slow and genial, but he has guts and really wants to succeed. However, he fails time and time again through the rigors of boot, only to come out on the bottom rung each time. The rest of the recruits watch as he gets them in trouble over and over and over again, finally culminating in them beating the poor guy senseless, flipping a switch in the young recruit that turns him into the perfect boot…...well….almost.

Fast forward a bit and the scenery changes. Private Joker is now a full fledged Marine in Vietnam, but not exactly on the combat side. He’s a journalist for the Stars and Stripes section of the Corp, and his job is to sit and write articles to send back home to the civilians in hopes of bolstering their spirits. An attack on the base changes planes though, and soon Private Joker is sent to help out a squad on the outskirts, whose job is to root out and destroy the Vietcong inside of bombed cities. A simple mission turns out to be a life changing experience as his squad gets cut off from the rest of the battalion, leaving them to fend for themselves against land mines, rogue snipers, and the jungle itself in a battle for survival.

Full Metal Jacket is a very personal tale, and one that Stanley Kubrick tells with heart on sleeve. While the story may FOLLOW Private Joker around, it’s more a cautionary tale about the duality of man, which Joker himself exemplifies. He walks around with a peace symbol on his uniform and the phrase “Born to Kill!” on his helmet, all the while chewing over the effects of his actions. Part of him is pure hardcore marine, but the other half of him is in conflict with his actions. You can actually see the battle in his eyes as he stands over the fallen sniper, deciding just how far he should go, and where his boundaries lie at. It’s haunting, eerie, and completely enthralling to watch unfold.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




4K Video: Video:

2001 and The Shining were Warner’s first couple attempts at remastering and releasing 4K UHD discs from Kubrick, so it’s not surprise to see that they went with the same white kid glove treatment that those two films underwent. The remaster and resulting 4K UHD release of Full Metal Jacket is nothing short of superb. The film was always a little bit washed out and overly noisy on the grain structure back in the initial 2007 release (which had the less efficient VC-1 encoding). The first 45 minutes of the film isn’t going to stun you, as the maylox green barracks and dimly light bunks aren’t exactly lending itself towards visual wizardry, but the image is very stable and clean. Grain is tightly controlled, and fine details abound. However, when the film switches over to the Vietnam arena it’s a whole nother ballgame. The greens and browns of the Asian arena are much more visually appealing, and the HDR of the new image takes over a lot more. Colors are better saturated with more pop, and the blacks aren’t nearly as milky. That final scene where the red and the stone gray are contrasting with the black levels when they find the sniper is jaw dropping. Grain structure is still very fine and appealing, and fine details across sweaty faces and grungy green Marine scrubs are spot on perfect.











Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track found on the disc is the same mix as the Blu-ray was, and while I kinda wanted a complete audio restoration and the nerd in me would love a DTS:X or Dolby Atmos mix, I understand why they didn’t. The 5.1 mix was still an upmix from the original 1.0 Mono track, and altering to be even MORE modern turns it into something that Kubrick never wanted. Luckily we have the original Mono mix in lossy Dolby Digital. The 5.1 mix is GOOOOD, but not great, if you know what I mean. It was always a rough and slightly raw sounding track back in the 1.0 days, and the 5.1 mix is more of the same. The dialog can get a bit raspy when pitches get high, and there’s some background static that seems to bleed through. LFE is tight and powerful though, adding weight to the tank scenes, as well as the gunfire with the Vietcong. It’s very very front heavy most of the time, with bits of action and the score filling out the back end to keep it from being COMPLETELY front heavy. Solid enough mix, but definitely a bit raw and dated.







Extras:

• Audio Commentary by Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onfrio, R. Lee Ermey and Critic/Screenwriter Jay Cocks
• Featurette: Full Metal Jacket - Between Good and Evil
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Full Metal Jacket is one of the best anti-war movies ever made, and one of Kubrick’s most relatable and visceral movies in his career. It’s brutally honest with the horrors of war without being preachy, it manages to effect people from all walks of life, and is probably one of the most intense war movies without ever being that visually gory. The 4K UHD disc from Warner Brothers is top notch, delivering an A+ upgrade over the video, but does have the downside of having a very raw audio mix to work with. The extras are the same ones found on the Blu-ray and actually are all housed ON the Blu-ray as well. While I would have loved an upgraded audio mix, I understand why they didn’t choose too. Kubrick was very adamant about his choice to make the film in 1.0 Mono, and luckily we get to choose the 2007 5.1 mix, or the original Mono mix for the film. Great buy.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Emery, Dorian Harewood, Ed O'Ross
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Written by: Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, Gustav Hasford
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 1.0 Mono, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin) DD 5.1, Polish, Japanese DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, Latin Spanish, Parisian French, Arabic, Complex Chinese, Castilian Spanish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German SDH, Italian SDH, Italian Forced, Japanese, Japanese, Forced, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, and Thai
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: R
Runtime: 118 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 22nd, 2020

Recommendation: Great Buy

 

[Todd Anderson]

I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. My preorder came in yesterday. Great flick! One of a kind, for sure.

I’m a big SK fan. His way with the camera was second to none. My only gripe is that his visual works of art weren’t shot in CinemaScope. There’s so much eye candy in what he worked with. I’d love to see the extra that 2.35:1 would afford.

oh well, small nitpick

 

[Asere]

Thank you for the review! This is indeed a classic film. I will have to get it one day.

 

[Michael Scott]

I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. My preorder came in yesterday. Great flick! One of a kind, for sure.

I’m a big SK fan. His way with the camera was second to none. My only gripe is that his visual works of art weren’t shot in CinemaScope. There’s so much eye candy in what he worked with. I’d love to see the extra that 2.35:1 would afford.

oh well, small nitpick

Yeah, Kubrick was ADAMANT in shooting his films in open matte and protecting for full open matte too with 1.85:1 being the theatrical ratio. Then when put on TV he made sure that they fit the full 4x3 screen. For some reason he really didn't like scope as much

 

[mechman]

Seven Six Two... Full Metal Jacket!

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I agree, a great movie to own.