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General		Extras
Category	War	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - 1.33:1, non-16x9, Dolby Digital 1.0
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1987	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	111:47 minutes	Other Extras	Menu audio Film collector's card
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (76:30)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie
Region	2,4	Director	Stanley Kubrick
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Matthew Modine Adam Baldwin Vincent D'Onofrio Lee Ermey Dorian Harewood Arliss Howard Kevyn Major Howard Ed O'Ross
RRP	$29.95	Music	Abigail Mead

    Basically tracing the journey of a platoon of United States Marine Corps rookies from their first day at boot camp through to their eventual postings in Vietnam, it cannot be denied that this is a powerful, if not entirely flattering, look at the USMC myth. Like any bunch of rookies, the cast of characters are very diverse, including Joker (Matthew Modine), Cowboy (Arliss Howard) and Gomer (Vincent D'Onofrio), and all undergo hell under the tutelage of Drill Sergeant Hartmann (Lee Ermey) - Gomer in particular, who eventually becomes a Section 8 candidate and who on graduation night goes over the top and kills Hartmann before shooting himself.

    Cowboy gets posted, like nearly all the platoon, to infantry whilst Joker gets posted to journalism, and they go their separate ways before meeting up again in combat at Hue City in Vietnam.

    Whilst it has to be said that this is not an especially original story, indeed the earlier portions reminded me of a serious version of Stripes, the way in which Stanley Kubrick has brought the story to the screen is. I suppose like many my idea of Kubrick is very much 2001: A Space Odyssey, but as you come to grips with his quite wide ranging films, there is no doubt that you can see the threads of quality film making linking them all. Whilst this is a hardly stellar cast, he has cajoled out of them quite superb performances that gives the film its very strong character. The little attention to detail that seems to mark a Kubrick film are what grabs me here: almost the total lack of a music soundtrack, the shot of the barrack lights flickering into life, the use of the camera crew taking shots of resting troops as the battle rages on, the uneasiness of the troops as they are interviewed by the camera crew. These little things really help make this a very powerful look at the Vietnam War.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and is not 16x9 enhanced. The packaging incorrectly states this to be a 1.85:1 widescreen presentation.

    Overall, the general transfer is sharp with some nice definition. The only real problems were a couple of sections that appeared quite grainy in comparison to the rest of the transfer, most notably during the interior shots in the helicopter. Whether this is a transfer problem or inherent in the film is unknown. Shadow detail is good, but not spectacular.

    The colours are muted, well reflecting the style of film, but it is a quite vibrant transfer. The resultant film comes across as very natural and utterly believable. There were no problems with oversaturation of colours, not even during the orange sunset shots of the obstacle training course.

    There did not appear to be any significant MPEG or video artefacts during the film. Film artefacts however were quite prevalent although not especially distracting.

    This is a RSDL format disc, with the layer change coming quite early at 76:30. Whilst the change is noticeable, it is not especially disruptive to the film.

Audio

    There are three soundtracks on the DVD, all of which are Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtracks: English (the default), French and Italian. I listened to the English default and sampled the French (which is very difficult to listen to).

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout.

    Audio sync is not a problem with the transfer.

    The almost non-existent score comprises original music from Abigail Mead, but really the soundtrack is superfluous to the film, and intentionally so I would suspect.

    The soundscape is a very typical front and centre mono sound and it is almost criminal that a remastered 5.1 soundtrack has not been provided (which I can only presume, like the full frame presentation, is a restriction of the Kubrick estate). You will not need to worry about surround channels or bass channels at all during this film. What we have is not too bad, but what is not available is what upsets - just like in The Shining.

Menu

Theatrical trailer

Film collector's card

• film collector's card

    The overall video quality is pretty good.

    The overall audio quality is unacceptable for such a recent film.

    The extras are quite limited in extent and value.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris
6th October 1999