Jarhead thoughts

Well, I decided in honor of the USMC's Birthday and Veteran's Day that it would be a perfect time to treat myself to a movie and Panera after a long, crappy birthday week. And yes, I took my Panera into the movie.

I saw Jarhead and I must admit.....Military movies turn me on! This should come as no surprise to those of you that know me that I'm a sucker for a man in uniform :) The sweaty soldiers, shower scenes, oh, okay, back to my post. I feel I cannot give a honest review because I can stare at any soldier doing anything for hours and enjoy it...but I'll give it a try.

I knew what to expect going into the movie. I wasn't expecting another "Saving Private Ryan" or "Full Metal Jacket" so I appreciated it for what it was....a story of one soldier's experience in the first Iraq War. I thought it would be tough to accept Jake Gyllenhaal as a Marine after seeing him in Bubble Boy, but he bulked up and did an outstanding job. Lucas Black as Kruger and Peter Sarsgaard as Troy were good too....and hot as all hell.

I do like a good battle scene as much as the next, uh, guy, but that's the thing with telling a true story....there is a lot of "Hurry and Wait" in War and not everything is so glamorous.

NOW FOR THE MAIN THING THAT BUGGED ME: All the Marines did the whole time was bitch about how they didn't see any action, never got to fire their weapons, and didn't get to kill anyone. Thinking about my friend who recently returned from Iraq, they don't know how lucky they were. He engaged in several fire fights and saw over a dozen of his friends killed. I bet he'd trade his experiences for those in Jarhead. Sure his battalion did a lot of good and slaughtered lots of awful terrorists but at the cost of his friend's lives and has many years of nightmares to come. I guess I can chalk the whining of the Marines in the movie up to boredom and wanting to help our country instead of sit around and masturbate all day.

All and all, I liked the movie. The cast was fully loaded with gorgeous men, all sweaty and muddy, wearing sexy Marine uniforms and carrying automatic weapons. The shower scene was delightful too. So I do suggest this film to any ladies out there who have a "military fetish" as they refer to in the movie. For those of us who like a good "shoot 'em up, blow 'em up" war epic, this is not for you. It stayed relatively non-political and I can appreciate that.