Jarhead 4K 2005 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

The film is set during the Persian Gulf War. Marine Anthony Swofford is a hereditary military man. After a course of training in a special camp he is sent to the Middle East, where there are military operations. With a sniper rifle in his hands and a heavy backpack on his shoulders, he has to make a difficult journey through the desert, where there is no escape from the unbearable heat and Iraqi soldiers who may appear on the horizon at any moment.

Review 4K Movie

Jarhead is a film that is extremely difficult to fit into the conventional framework of war cinema. At first, it may seem that the film is based on the common “training-war” principle: for the first thirty minutes of screen time, sergeants drill recruits, using vivid examples to make it clear who's who. After that, the main character ends up in a combat zone. This is where a secret thought creeps in—oh, now it's going to start, now there will be a lot of shooting and a lot of carnage... Fortunately/unfortunately (each person can choose the option that suits them best), nothing like that happens.

Sam Mendes has made a high-quality war drama in which there is almost no war. Or rather, there is war, but it is somewhere out there, beyond the horizon. The heroes of the film do not fire a single shot at the enemy. The invisible enemy remains invisible. In essence, the film is about how a person slowly but surely goes mad from the hopelessness of the situation and idleness. Eyes burning with anticipation of battle slowly fade. Fury and anger find no outlet. The routine and dullness of desert life weigh heavily on the psyche. Perfectly trained killing machines spend all their time maintaining constant combat readiness and fighting with themselves, boredom, and monotony...

Like Mendez's previous films, Jarhead rests on three pillars: acting, cinematography, and music. At times, the latter two play a much greater role. No, don't get me wrong — the actors are wonderful. Jack Gyllenhaal did a great job with his role. It seems that this guy can look great in completely different films: from expensive disaster movies to gay dramas. Jack grows as an actor with every film.
The ubiquitous Peter Sarsgaard has crept in here too. He doesn't have much screen time, and even fewer lines, but he plays his part very well. The funniest thing happened with Jimmy Fox. It was already clear from the trailers that his character would have a lot of charisma, but thanks to our valiant localizers, all the beauty of his phrases was lost. How can you give such a character the average digitized voice of a radio DJ?
Roger Deakins (cinematographer) and the wizards at ILM did a tremendous job, giving the film the most beautiful visuals. The film is full of scenes that you want to watch over and over again: all those day and night walks in the desert, playing football in gas masks, burning oil wells, oil rain, burnt-out cars...

Deakins took a rather interesting approach, refusing to use panoramic views and numerous camera pans over troop formations. In almost all scenes, the camera is “bolted” to the ground, making us feel what it's like to sit in the desert and see nothing but endless dunes in front of us. The guys at ILM made such high-quality special effects that it is completely impossible to determine where computer graphics are present and where they are not.

The musical themes in this film are more important than in any other. The soundtrack itself deserves the highest praise and is a must-have for your home collection, while in the film, the music largely complements and conveys the mood of the characters. As they say, listen to the words and the same scenes will appear before you in a completely different light. It's just a pity that the gorgeous “Jesus Walks” plays only once, during the final credits.

Sam Mendes has once again made a slow-paced but extremely captivating film. Some will argue that the film lacks political undertones, but the director does not intend to draw parallels between the situation in Iraq sixteen years ago and today's realities. Others will be quick to add that the film is dull and uninteresting due to the almost complete absence of action scenes, but the film is not about combat, it is primarily about people at war and their relationships. Mendez has made, as many will say, a strange film about an even stranger war. But, damn it, he did a great job!