Entertainment

10:33 AM CST on Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Jarhead

A-

Wide-screen edition. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black, Chris Cooper, Jacob Vargas, Evan Jones and Brian Geraghty. Directed by Sam Mendes. Rated R (language, sexual content, nudity, violence). 123 mins., plus extras. $29.98.

WELCOME BACK: Jarhead got lost in the shuffle when it hit theaters in November, and it's easy to see why. Set during the first Iraq conflict, it's a war movie without a war, and it focuses more on surreal impressions than on story. But a second look reveals a textured film loaded with vivid scenes and performances.

THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART: Jake Gyllenhaal leads the charge as Anthony Swofford, the Gulf War veteran on whose memoir the film is based. Like his fellow Marines, Swoff desperately wants to see some action. Instead, they end up patrolling in the middle of nowhere, hydrating and dehydrating, and fighting a maddening enemy called tedium.

BAND OF BROTHERS: Mr. Swofford is joined on a riveting commentary track by screenwriter, Vietnam veteran and Texan William Broyles Jr. They discuss the common traits and moral quandaries of war and the rituals and life-altering rigors of being a Marine.

BEST EXTRA: Several fantasy sequences, one featuring a drill sergeant in a dress, were cut from the movie. We see them here, and hear director Sam Mendes and film editor Walter Murch explain why each was cut. Most of the scenes should have stayed in – Jarhead could have used an extra push into the bizarre.

BOTTOM LINE: A movie that deserves another chance and a DVD that places it in excellent context.

Chris Vognar