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Kubrick Collection: Full Metal Jacket(Remastered)
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Although various films have explored Vietnam, war is generally a subject for which filmmakers can approach differently - such as Terrence Malick's philosophical and haunting "Thin Red Line". Director Stanley Kubrick's 1987 picture is split into two parts - although the second half isn't quite as interesting, the film as a whole is still a very strong effort from one of the best directors in cinema history.
The first half covers the intense boot camp training that the Marine recruits have to go through before heading off to Vietnam. Similar to last year's "Tigerland", the film depicts the harshness of what these people have to go through, especially having to tolerate the yelling and remarks of Sargeant Hartman(R. Lee Ermey). There's several recruits who are focused on, but the main ones are "Gomer Pyle" (Vincent D'Onofrio), a screw-up who finds out that he's good with a gun and slowly loses his mind. There's also private joker (Matthew Modine), who we follow through the first half and into the second half, which moves onto Vietnam.
The picture looks at the day to day life of the soliders in Vietnam; the horrors of being woken up by attacks and other terrifying experiences. Kubrick's surreal, haunting images are hard to forget and although he doesn't really let us get to know any of the characters in great deal, it almost adds to the feelings that the soliders have had emotions stripped away from them after being in the middle of the chaos.
Although the film has been "remastered" for this second try at the Kubrick Collection, the feature is still full_frame and not in its original theatrical aspect ratio. The only significant difference, in my opinion, is a new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio presentation.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Full Metal Jacket" was presented in pan & scan on the first "Kubrick Collection" release and on this release it's presented in...pan & scan again (the box notes "this film has been formatted to fit your screen"). Although there has been endless debate about what Kubrick wanted with not only "Full Metal Jacket" but other presentations like "Eyes Wide Shut", "Shining" is still the only disc where the back of the box says "full-frame as the director intended". So, after all of that, it's curious why the film, which was theatrically 1.85:1, couldn't be presented as such this time around. This new edition of the film does present some improvements, but I certainly didn't think it was a night and day difference.
Sharpness and detail appeared generally good, although some sequences tended to look slightly softer. Depth to the image seemed improved here, but only minimally. There's some very light hints of edge enhancement viewed a couple of times, but I found it hardly noticable. There's also still some grain apparent in the image, but it seemed lighter here. Colors looked slightly improved here, although the film still presents a very subdued color palette. I'm curious as to why this couldn't have been presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic. The image does look better here, but not remarkably so.
SOUND: Originally shown in mono, this DVD provides a new Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. Although it's now 5.1, it still generally seemed to be mono-oriented to me. There are times throughout when the sound opens up a bit throughout the front, but surround use remains limited, with subtle use only on a few occasions and one or two more active moments during the battle scenes. Sound effects and dialogue are still slightly harsh and thin at times, but I generally felt that the overall quality was acceptable.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, but the score plays in the background.
EXTRAS: Trailer.
Final Thoughts: "Full Metal Jacket" is still a very good film whatever disc you have, but the reality is that there could have been more done with this new edition, such as presenting the film in its theatrical aspect ratio, or providing something in the way of features, such as interviews or a commentary from the cast. A few changes and I probably would have gone with "Highly Recommended" instead.
Although various films have explored Vietnam, war is generally a subject for which filmmakers can approach differently - such as Terrence Malick's philosophical and haunting "Thin Red Line". Director Stanley Kubrick's 1987 picture is split into two parts - although the second half isn't quite as interesting, the film as a whole is still a very strong effort from one of the best directors in cinema history.
The first half covers the intense boot camp training that the Marine recruits have to go through before heading off to Vietnam. Similar to last year's "Tigerland", the film depicts the harshness of what these people have to go through, especially having to tolerate the yelling and remarks of Sargeant Hartman(R. Lee Ermey). There's several recruits who are focused on, but the main ones are "Gomer Pyle" (Vincent D'Onofrio), a screw-up who finds out that he's good with a gun and slowly loses his mind. There's also private joker (Matthew Modine), who we follow through the first half and into the second half, which moves onto Vietnam.
The picture looks at the day to day life of the soliders in Vietnam; the horrors of being woken up by attacks and other terrifying experiences. Kubrick's surreal, haunting images are hard to forget and although he doesn't really let us get to know any of the characters in great deal, it almost adds to the feelings that the soliders have had emotions stripped away from them after being in the middle of the chaos.
Although the film has been "remastered" for this second try at the Kubrick Collection, the feature is still full_frame and not in its original theatrical aspect ratio. The only significant difference, in my opinion, is a new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio presentation.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Full Metal Jacket" was presented in pan & scan on the first "Kubrick Collection" release and on this release it's presented in...pan & scan again (the box notes "this film has been formatted to fit your screen"). Although there has been endless debate about what Kubrick wanted with not only "Full Metal Jacket" but other presentations like "Eyes Wide Shut", "Shining" is still the only disc where the back of the box says "full-frame as the director intended". So, after all of that, it's curious why the film, which was theatrically 1.85:1, couldn't be presented as such this time around. This new edition of the film does present some improvements, but I certainly didn't think it was a night and day difference.
Sharpness and detail appeared generally good, although some sequences tended to look slightly softer. Depth to the image seemed improved here, but only minimally. There's some very light hints of edge enhancement viewed a couple of times, but I found it hardly noticable. There's also still some grain apparent in the image, but it seemed lighter here. Colors looked slightly improved here, although the film still presents a very subdued color palette. I'm curious as to why this couldn't have been presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic. The image does look better here, but not remarkably so.
SOUND: Originally shown in mono, this DVD provides a new Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. Although it's now 5.1, it still generally seemed to be mono-oriented to me. There are times throughout when the sound opens up a bit throughout the front, but surround use remains limited, with subtle use only on a few occasions and one or two more active moments during the battle scenes. Sound effects and dialogue are still slightly harsh and thin at times, but I generally felt that the overall quality was acceptable.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, but the score plays in the background.
EXTRAS: Trailer.
Final Thoughts: "Full Metal Jacket" is still a very good film whatever disc you have, but the reality is that there could have been more done with this new edition, such as presenting the film in its theatrical aspect ratio, or providing something in the way of features, such as interviews or a commentary from the cast. A few changes and I probably would have gone with "Highly Recommended" instead.
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