jag_griffiths Reviews

Jarhead (2005)

A hilarious, yet horrible reality!

[8/10 · 28 April 2006]

In my opinion Jarhead has revolutionized what we used to know as the "war movie" genre. Combining elements of comedy and true drama, this movie introduces its audience to what it really is to be a marine and part of a war. This movie presents very serious issues to its audience, yet it does not fail to entertain us by including elements of suspense, excitement, and bawdy, yet hilarious comedy.

Based on the novel by Anthony Sworfford, this movie brings to us the story of a young marine who ended up in the corps on his way to college. The story follows this marine's (Gyllehaal) life through his first years in the corp, the Gulf War, and ultimately his return home.

The outstanding performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard, and the rest of the cast, bring a whole new perspective to the issue of war and the lives of young marines. This movie makes its audience experience moments of grief, laughter, suspense, and more; ultimately creating a great experience for its viewers. The major flaw of the movie is probably the questions it leaves unanswered at the end, like what did Swofford ended up doing? (even though we know he ended up becoming a writer and selling his novel to make this movie...) How did Troy die? and a few more.

Overall I give this movie an 8.5/10, being a very well-made movie with astonishing shots, and terrific performances.

Jarhead is a "must-see!"

King Arthur (2004)

if you claim your movie is based on history...please do some real research beforehand!

[4/10 · 27 April 2006]

In my opinion what this movie is trying to do is not to reveal the man behind the myth, but to make millions of dollars by exploiting a trend that has become extremely popular lately. King Arthur, Alexander, Troy, The Gladiator; what all these movies have in common besides exciting battle scenes of epic proportions, is inaccurate historical claims. However, some of the movies mentioned above, and others within the genre do not make the claim that what they are telling in their movie is history. In the case of this movie, it starts by saying that many historians agree on the theories they are about to shows us through this film. The truth is that the historicity of Arthur can not be proved until today and there are many theories out there, and the one this movie presents to us is definitely not the most popular, in the contrary most historians do not agree with it. So why claim your movie is based on history if its not? And where in hell did they get the idea of Guinevere carrying a bow? Come on! We all know that showing Keira Knightley half-naked kicking some Saxon ass is pretty hot...but still, was there any account of Guinevere being a post-feminist Celtic warrior-princess? I didn't think so. Hey don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that this is an awful movie, but rather that the claims they make in the movie are completely ridiculous. This semester we watched this movie in my history class, a King Arthur history class. The reaction from every student was..."Wow, Hollywood really doesn't know what kind of crap they are showing..." Our professor, Dr. Christopher Snyder, is not only one of the top experts in the field of Medieval British and Celtic studies, but the focus of his research is based on the historicity of King Arthur! And to top it off, Disney interviewed him and others historians to put them as part of the extra material in the DVD version, but decided to replace them with Keira Knightley talking nonsense without knowing what she is saying, because the views of these historians did not agree with what the Disney movie was trying to say about the historicity of King Arthur.

To finish this long comment let me just say that if you like flicks with a lot of action in them, go see Troy or Lord of the Rings. This movie has certain excitement, but can't be compared to the "blockbusters" of its genre; and the ridiculous historical claims the film makes just show the immense stupidity and lack of historical knowledge that was used in this film.