Jarhead

Released by: Universal Studios
Released on: November 26, 2008.
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Cooper, Jamie Foxx
Year: 2005
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The Movie:

Jarhead tells the true to life story of a third generation U.S. Marine Corp enlistee named Anthony 'Swoff' Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) who leaves his mellow Sacramento, California home at the end of the 1980s to enjoy all the pleasures that boot camp has to offer him. Once his training is over with he winds up assigned a position as a sniper and is paired up with another new recruit named Alan Troy (Peter Sarsgaard). The pair is shipped off to Iraq when the Gulf War begins. Their group, lead by Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx) and find that their camaraderie and sense of humor is really the only thing they have to hold the group together as the deal with the inhospitable surroundings and Iraqi soldiers who want them dead.

What separates Jarhead from a lot of war movies is that while the film has its share of action scenes, the focus here is on the character development. There are no 'one man army' scenes here were a single American soldier takes down a platoon of enemy troops of uses a rocket launcher to whip out an enemy helicopter. There are no Rambo moments and there's very little here that glories war. The movie takes a considerably more realistic approach to modern warfare and paints a very human picture of those who serve their country in the Marines.

The movie is well paced and quite nicely shot, with a tendency to let the picture get 'hot' at times to reflect the atmosphere and locale where so much of it plays out. The film makes great use of sound, both in terms of the effects and the score, while the dialogue feels smart and realistic. There are some really haunting moments in the movie, particularly when the desert burns and the cameras really pull us into the moment.

The talented cast plays their Marines as very human, flawed just like the rest of us. They swear, they watch porno movies to unwind, they argue with one another and get into rights and like everyone else on the planet they sometimes make the wrong decision. It's this humanity that allows us to relate to and to care for the characters in the film, something that doesn't happen too often in typical action movie fare. There's really no message to the film, and it is best approached as a reasonably simple story about a group of you men who were taken out of their element, trained to kill for their country and thrust into a situation that none of them completely understood in the first place.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Jarhead arrives on Blu-ray in a very nice 1080p 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. As it was with the SD release, some scenes look a little hot though this is obviously a stylistic choice and it suits the tone of the movie fairly well. Skin tones look good and detail levels are fine in both the foreground and the background of the image. There are no problems with mpeg compression artifacts nor are there any problems with heavy edge enhancement. Compared to the SD release, there's a lot more detail noticeable in the image though when the camera is moving around as quickly and as often as it tends to be in the film that can be hard to notice. Colors, too, are improved over the standard definition release and they look a little more natural here as do the black levels which are noticeably stronger. There aren't any problems with print damage at all and this well authored Blu-ray disc does a good job of replicating the film's intended theatrical look.

The DTS-HD 5.1 track is available in English only with optional subtitles provided in English, French and Spanish. Spanish and French language dubbed tracks are available in DTS 5.1 Surround Sound. The DTS-HD track has a lot of depth to it and provides some pretty impressive bass response and surround activity, particularly during the action scenes. Gun shots all sounds nice and punchy and your subwoofer will really bring the explosions to life with some impressive low end rumble. There aren't any problems with hiss or distortion to complain about and the levels are all well balanced.

Universal has only ported over the two commentary tracks that were recorded for previous releases of the film. The first commentary track comes courtesy of director Sam Mendes. The second commentary included is with screenwriter William Broyles, Jr. and author Anthony Swofford. These are both decent tracks that do a good job of explaining how the film came to be and what it was like working on it as well as the background and story that inspired the picture in the first place, but it's still a little disappointing when you realize how much supplemental material appeared on the SD special edition release wasn't included here.

Aside from that, you can collect clips from the film with the 'My Scenes' functionality and enjoy some spiffy animated menus and chapter selection.

The Final Word:

It's a shame that Universal didn't bother porting over some of the supplements from the special edition SD release of the film. While the commentaries are decent, some featurettes would have been very welcome. Thankfully the film itself looks and sounds very good on its Blu-ray debut and the movie holds up well. Whether or not it's worth the upgrade for owners of the SD releases will depend on how important the improved audio and video quality is…