Available in standard, HD DVD, and Collector’s Editions, Jarhead brings the Gulf War to your living room. Although commonly compared to movies such as Full Metal Jacket, Jarhead, placed in the genre of “War," really doesn’t compare simply due to the fact that the movie is more of a telling of the life of a soldier rather than consisting of any action or actual battle scenes. Although true to the book and the source material, Jarhead’s advertising itself as a war flick turned off critics and movie-goers who found the movie to be quite different than expected.
However, Jarhead has still found its niche of fans. The movie, if it had not wrongly been classified as a war film, probably could have fared much better in theatres. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a Marine from a long-standing Marine family who joins up to serve in the Gulf War. Opening with boot camp, the movie depicts the life of a Marine as he goes through the verbal, mental, and physical punishment that is laid onto Marines in an attempt to properly prepare them for war. The movie, as it intends to do, brings to life a side of the military that photojournalism, documentaries, and feature films often fail to grasp.
Most war films involve a character or characters triumphing over certain conflicts. They involve action, epic scenes of battle. But Jarhead contains no such scenes. There are no epic battles in the film, but rather the story focuses more on the inner struggles of Jake and other Marines in his troop and tells the story of their experiences in the Gulf War. Not one shot is taken at an enemy by any in the troop in the entire movie, but that doesn’t stop the movie from successfully developing a plot and delivering it in a interesting and engaging fashion.
However, a common criticism of the movie is the way the plot ends. The way it unfolds is properly done and is very engaging, but the climax of the movie is almost non-existant and there is virtually no resolution. The movie has a sudden ending that results after a series of build-ups with no final conflict and resolution. This experience tends to leave viewers a bit disappointed.
The extras in the standard DVD edition tend to be pretty sparse. The Collector’s Edition contains quite a few fantasy and deleted scenes along with interviews and documentaries. Overall, those who were dissatisfied with the movie in theatres won’t be tempted by the DVD, but those who enjoyed the movie should still have enough reason to consider picking it up.
Dual Screen Dvd Review
A unique and different kind of TV action series, MacGyver made its television premiere in the Fall of 1985 to much fanfare. Audiences immediately responded to the title character and his unusual penchant for turning everyday items like chewing gum and paperclips into elaborate life-saving contraptions. In this way, it maintained a slight resemblance to The A-Team, and this recurring plot device helped MacGyver build a strong cult following…
Richard Dean Anderson plays the title role of MacGyver, an energetic employee of the fictional Phoenix Foundation for Research. An unorthodox hero by action series standards, MacGyver has a deadly fear of heights. A pacifist who refuses to use weapons, he relies heavily on his ability to use his brain and tinker with the various materials at his disposal. MacGyver's best friend, and the director of the Phoenix Foundation, is Pete Thornton (Dana Elcar). Pete often sends MacGyver on Foundation missions and sometimes comes to his aid (usually after MacGyver has saved the day). In addition, MacGyver is joined on a regular basis by his airplane pilot friend Jack Dalton (Bruce McGill), a man who constantly entangles himself in illegal activities and other troublesome situations. Between the usual slew of bad guys, the vendetta of archenemy Murdoc (Michael Des Barres), and his multitude of troublesome friends, MacGyver is always in the midst of interesting and dangerous events, and the show's true entertainment value derives from watching MacGyver's distinctive method of dealing with each one…
The MacGyver DVD features a number of action-packed episodes including the series pilot in which MacGyver is forced to race against the clock when a team of scientists are trapped underground after a lab experiment goes awry. Wanting to contain the leak, the Army allots a small time window for MacGyver to pull off his mission before they destroy the facility… Fans will make note of some interesting aspects of the pilot episode such as Dana Elcar's role as another character, MacGyver's use of a gun, and MacGyver's boss is a man named Gantner (Michael Lerner)… Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Trumbo's World" in which MacGyver, while on expedition in Brazil, encounters and wages war with a mile-wide column of army ants, and "Every Time She Smiles" in which MacGyver meets up with a beautiful, yet talkative, artist named Penny Parker (Teri Hatcher) and the two must escape the clutches of the KGB…
Below is a list of episodes included on the MacGyver (Season 1) DVD:
Episode 1 (Pilot) Air Date: 09-29-1985
Episode 2 (The Golden Triangle) Air Date: 10-06-1985
Episode 3 (Thief of Budapest) Air Date: 10-13-1985
Episode 4 (The Gauntlet) Air Date: 10-21-1985
Episode 5 (The Heist) Air Date: 11-03-1985
Episode 6 (Trumbo's World) Air Date: 11-10-1985
Episode 7 (Last Stand) Air Date: 11-17-1985
Episode 8 (Hellfire) Air Date: 11-27-1985
Episode 9 (The Prodigal) Air Date: 12-08-1985
Episode 10 (Target MacGyver) Air Date: 12-22-1985
Episode 11 (Nightmares) Air Date: 01-15-1986
Episode 12 (Deathlock) Air Date: 01-22-1986
Episode 13 (Flame's End) Air Date: 01-29-1986
Episode 14 (Countdown) Air Date: 02-05-1986
Episode 15 (The Enemy Within) Air Date: 02-12-1986
Episode 16 (Every Time She Smiles) Air Date: 02-19-1986
Episode 17 (To Be a Man) Air Date: 03-05-1986
Episode 18 (Ugly Duckling) Air Date: 03-12-1986
Episode 19 (Slow Death) Air Date: 04-02-1986
Episode 20 (The Escape) Air Date: 04-16-1986
Episode 21 (A Prisoner of Conscience) Air Date: 04-30-1986
Both Chris Shelton & Britt Gillette are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
