One of the best war movies of all time is now a lot more accessible, as it can be streamed for free on YouTube. The current streaming era is full of fierce competitors, as each platform has something to offer viewers of different ages and with different tastes. While the biggest platforms are subscription-based, such as Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+, there are also great options for free, though, of course, with ads, and YouTube is one that offers both models.

Through the years, YouTube has become a lot more than a video-sharing platform and one that launches content creators across the world. The service is now also a streaming one, offering both a subscription option with a wide variety of movies available to watch, and a free service with ads, which is the one everyone knows. However, what many might not know about YouTube’s free service is that it also has movies legally streaming, among them Full Metal Jacket.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on Gustav Hasford’s 1979 semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers, Full Metal Jacket was released in 1987 to great critical and commercial success, grossing $120 million against a budget of $16.5-30 million. Full Metal Jacket is widely regarded as one of the best movies of all time and one of Kubrick’s best works, and to this day, it’s still one of the most influential and jarring war movies ever made.

Full Metal Jacket is divided into two parts, with its focus being a platoon of U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War. The first half of Full Metal Jacket introduces the audience to Senior Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey), and some of the recruits, most notably J. T. Davis (Matthew Modine), a.k.a. Joker, and Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D’Onofrio), a.k.a. “Gomer Pyle.” The second half follows Joker and other Marines in the Vietnamese cities of Da Nang and Huế during the Tet Offensive.

At the time of writing, Full Metal Jacket holds a 90% critics’ score and a 94% popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, both granting it a “fresh” certificate. Full Metal Jacket has been praised for its performances (particularly those of D’Onofrio and Ermey), tone and intensity, writing, direction, and accuracy, though it’s not historically accurate, as it has some inconsistencies in that regard. Full Metal Jacket is considered realistic in terms of the psychological horrors that the Marines go through in training and during the war, and the impact of these.

In both parts of the story, Full Metal Jacket shows the horrifying sides of war, and how everything the recruits go through in training directly impacts what they do once they are thrown into the war. Full Metal Jacket doesn’t sugarcoat anything, nor does it attempt to lighten anything, and instead it fully commits to showing that war is hell on Earth in all its stages.

Full Metal Jacket Remains One Of The Definitive War Movies

Most war movies focus on portraying the horrors of the war, usually on both sides of the conflict, but few have done what Full Metal Jacket did. As mentioned above, one of Full Metal Jacket’s biggest strengths is its first half, following Joker, Pyle, and the rest of the young Marines through the most brutal training. Kubrick made sure to show the psychological pressure and torture the recruits go through to strip them of their identities so they can better face what’s to come when thrown into action.

During the second half, Full Metal Jacket shows how that training and their experience in the war have shaped each Marine: some advocate for peace while still fighting and killing innocents, while others take pride in killing enemy soldiers, and some have become indifferent to the horrors of the war. As popular as the topic of war is in movies, it’s definitely not an easy one to cover, as there’s always a risk of diminishing elements, leaving some aside, exaggerating others, and even glorifying war.

Full Metal Jacket covered the key sides of war, the psychological impact of it, and never intended to give the audience a hopeful ending, nor does it glorify war. Quite the contrary, Full Metal Jacket shows the dehumanization of recruits and the reality of war, becoming not only one of the best war movies of all time but also one of the most misunderstood ones.

Release Date

July 10, 1987

Runtime

116 minutes