A psychological study of Marine's state of mind during the Gulf War. Told through the eyes of a U.S. Marine sniper who struggles to cope with boredom, a sense of isolation, and other issues ... Read allA psychological study of Marine's state of mind during the Gulf War. Told through the eyes of a U.S. Marine sniper who struggles to cope with boredom, a sense of isolation, and other issues back home.A psychological study of Marine's state of mind during the Gulf War. Told through the eyes of a U.S. Marine sniper who struggles to cope with boredom, a sense of isolation, and other issues back home.
- Awards
- 6 wins & 12 nominations
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA great deal of the dialogue is improvised. This was a deliberate choice on the part of Sir Sam Mendes to be a little more organic after the stylization of Road to Perdition (2002).
- GoofsWhenever snipers are shooting at their targets their spotter does a countdown by saying "Fire! Fire! Fire!". The sniper then fires on the third "Fire!" to ensure a well-timed kill. However, in the movie the snipers fire whenever they want after the spotter says the third "Fire!".
- Quotes
D.I. Fitch: What the fuck are you even doing here?
Anthony 'Swoff' Swofford: Sir, I got lost on the way to college, sir.
- Crazy creditsAt the end of the credits, Sykes can be heard calling out the following military cadence, with his platoon responding: 'All my life it was my dream/ To be a bad motherfucking U.S. Marine.'
- Alternate versionsMilitary theatrical versions of the film remove some footage, including the scene where a soldier dies during training.
- ConnectionsEdited into Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (2010)
- SoundtracksSomething in the Way
Written by Kurt Cobain
Performed by Nirvana
Courtesy of Geffen Records
Under license from Universal Music Enteprises
Featured review
Like collective insanity
I have never been in the military, so I can only guess as to home realistic this film is. But one thing that startled me was how close to insanity the various Marines were in this film. One minute, one of them would seem pretty normal and the next they'd be losing their minds. This happened again and again to practically all the soldiers in the film...even the leading man, Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal)!
The story follows Swofford from a brief scene in boot camp to his advanced training to eventual deployment in Kuwait during the Gulf War. All during which, he and his fellow Marines were all just a few steps away from completely losing their minds.
This is not a pleasant film to watch, but I liked that the story was NOT sanitized....it was nasty, ugly, and, most interestingly, focused on how incredibly boring and uneventful the war was for the average grunt. It also focuses on the emotional damage incurred by these men. Quite interesting if not enjoyable.
The story follows Swofford from a brief scene in boot camp to his advanced training to eventual deployment in Kuwait during the Gulf War. All during which, he and his fellow Marines were all just a few steps away from completely losing their minds.
This is not a pleasant film to watch, but I liked that the story was NOT sanitized....it was nasty, ugly, and, most interestingly, focused on how incredibly boring and uneventful the war was for the average grunt. It also focuses on the emotional damage incurred by these men. Quite interesting if not enjoyable.
helpful•323
- planktonrules
- Sep 22, 2021
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Lính Thủy Đánh Bộ
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $72,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $62,658,220
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $27,726,210
- Nov 6, 2005
- Gross worldwide
- $97,076,152
- Runtime2 hours 5 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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