This, as far as I can tell, is the Suck that the characters in Sam Mendes’ "Jarhead" are so fond of welcoming you to—a kind of purgatory or limbo in which the characters long for action but are instead forced to continuously spin their wheels, primed for a war that may not come. The results are tedious and nerve-wracking for the characters and, unfortunately, for the audience as well.

The problem is that "Jarhead" has been sold as a war movie, but there isn’t any real war presented. The film is mainly about the disillusionment that can occur when you train young men to be killing machines and then continually deny them the killing that they crave. As "Jarhead" proves, inaction for these soldiers is sometimes just as traumatic as action. It’s a very interesting concept, and credit should be given to the film for not just throwing out the same old “War is Hell” messages. It is, however, also a very anti-climactic concept, and while I know that this is precisely the point, it doesn’t exactly make for successful drama.

Still, as far as unsatisfying movies go, "Jarhead" is an extremely well-made one. Thanks to director Sam Mendes and his cinematographer, the great Roger Deakins (a Coen Brothers movie staple, whose work is always top notch), the Iraqi desert has never been filmed more beautifully. One particular sequence, in which oil wells are lit on fire causing oil to literally rain from a smoke shrouded sky, is one of the most striking images committed to film. The acting in the film is also top-notch. Jake Gyllenhaal wraps himself completely in Anthony Swofford (whose Desert Storm memoir is the basis of the film), and is not afraid to portray him as someone who can be endearing, but who can also be irrational, angry, and brutish. In other words: Human. Credit should also be given to Jamie Foxx for taking a real cliché—the tough staff sergeant who’s only mean because he cares so damn much—and giving it a fairly original spin.

In the end, despite not being completely successful, "Jarhead" is still a consistently interesting film and well-worth a viewing.

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