Is it really cause they wanted more Hartman/Ermey colorful abuse and lingo? It was enjoyable, but it could have worn out its welcome real fast.
If anything, without that 2nd half, all the stress and endurance conveyed on screen would have amounted to nihil. All the new characters, like Rafterman, Animal Mother and the interview scenes etc..... really drive home the whole point of the 2nd half, as well as a bit of the first: war is madness
The 'second half sucked' crowd has been posting here for years. Part one is definitely a LOT more simple in terms of protagonist, arc, characters, conflict and resolution. The second half is much more ambiguous and open to interpretation which, as I have always maintained, doesn't hold much appeal for a large segment of the population. As well, a lot were upset that an entire platoon could be pinned down and sniped by a teenage girl so that was unsettling but I liked how all the training in the world can not compensate for a desperate situation. Humans are still susceptible to emotion overriding logic and I think that is difficult for a lot of people to accept as well.
Life is always intense for a repo man.
I like the second half more.
Besides the themes of duality, morality, and all that, I really like the urban setting of Vietnam. Almost all other Vietnam movies are situated in the jungle. This one is a nice exeption to that!
I'm just on my way up to Clavius.
FMJ was basically two movies. The first a no nonsense coming of age boot camp film. The second a politicized war film. I liked them both but can understand why the second film annoyed many viewers.
He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator.
Is it really cause they wanted more Hartman/Ermey colorful abuse and lingo? It was enjoyable, but it could have worn out its welcome real fast.
Because it was boring. If one is watching a Vietnam war movie, we want it to be like Rambo 2 or Missing in Action
shareI enjoy the second half. People may not like it because it's just another war film while the boot camp first half is more unique with Hartman and Pyle.
shareThe second half is the only good part - great action and that war zone set they built for the battles looks authentic.
The first half just showcases all the worst aspects of human cruelty. It's depressing.
The second half is just been-there done-that. Some scenes in the second half flat out suck, like the dialog exchange between Joker and Animal Mother...was that dialog meant to be funny? Realistic? Was it even written by a human being? Lot's of great stuff in the second half though, like the news interview montage and Cowboy dying.
The first half is refreshing; how many movies have such an immersive look at military boot camp that's not for the sake of humor? I know other movies HAVE boot camp scenes but compared to stuff like Stripes or Bolixi Blues, the first half of Full Metal Jacket is like another planet. And R Lee Ermy's performance is one of the best of the 80's. The film begins to suffer hard without being grounded by such an amazing performance.