'Jarhead' Aims to Show War Like It Is
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Named after the slang term for a U.S. Marine, "Jarhead," (search) which opens this weekend, goes behind the lines to give audiences a glimpse of life in the armed forces overseas.
The film, based on Anthony Swofford's (search) 2003 Desert Storm memoir, chronicles a squad shipped out to the Persian Gulf that bides its time in the desert, waiting for their chance to fight.
"These guys are all about one thing, and that's protecting our borders and protecting themselves and doing something that I think we've kind of like slipped away from, by saying God Bless America," star Jamie Foxx (search) told FOXNews.com.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Director Sam Mendes (search) says his film is "non-judgmental."
"That's not to say it's non-political," he added. "I think the very fact of making a film about this is in itself political."
"If Sam was going sort of more one political way or not a political way I would always go, 'Well, wait, we should look at the political side, or wait we should push that away from the political idea,'" co-star Jake Gyllenhaal (search) said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But the New York Post's Kyle Smith says the film takes many liberties in its portrayal of Gulf War 1.
"Swofford and director Sam Mendes, who comes nowhere near even getting the uniforms right, approach this non-story about inaction by passing the time with macho posturing, pornographic fantasies and feverish imaginings borrowed from other war movies," Smith said. "I'm not saying 'Jarhead' exaggerates. I'm saying it lies from beginning to end."
Read the full New York Post review here.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FOX News' Mike Waco and William LaJeunesse contributed to this report.