Jarhead

"The invigorating thing about Jarhead is it makes us encounter the truth in its undigested form."

"Director Sam Mendes' third screen outing pretty well nails Swofford's tone, which was mordant without being disrespectful, and, in fact, is begrudgingly reverent of the Corps."

"Stunning to look at and to listen to, with elegantly chosen pop songs unspooling on the soundtrack under each fresh new horror."

"Jarhead takes a perverse pleasure in confounding your expectations of what a war movie should be."

"The film's strong suit is vagueness, presenting combat as a semi-surreal state of ignorant expectation and dislocated experience: these warriors loll in the desert awaiting action or trying to make sense of its consequences."

"It's another fine Gyllenhaal performance, but not really enough, because his suffering doesn't amount to a hill of Kuwaiti sand in the end."

"Gyllenhaal can, in fact, act, so the blame must fall elsewhere for his dim performance, all topless tears and soulful voiceovers."