Jarhead

First came the much-lauded American Beauty. Then came Road to Perdition, which was not as heralded but still boasted dazzling cinematography and strong performances by the entire ensemble cast. So naturally, the expectations were sky-high for Sam Mendes' third feature, Jarhead. The problem with sky-high expectations is that they are impossible to meet, no matter the quality of the movie.

Jarhead, based on Anthony Swofford's best-selling memoir of the same name, offers an engrossing portrait of the hurry-up-and-wait-and-now-go-home mentality of the first Gulf war. However, the movie suffers from an unevenness of tone: it is at first a tongue-in-cheek comedy, then jarringly becomes serious before sputtering to a lackluster ending. Some of the movie's dialogue falls flat, not because it is poorly written, but because it is unable to be understood.

The Kuwaiti desert is very becoming to a newly tanned, newly muscular Jake Gyllenhaal, playing Swofford. His is an extremely convincing turn as the wide-eyed, gung-ho recruit who morphs into a jaded, embittered jerk. He is especially spectacular in an Oscar clip-worthy scene where he displays his malicious side.

Peter Sarsgaard, as Swofford's sniper spotter, is versatile as ever in a role of an ex-felon for whom being in the Marines is life. Frustratingly, the potential of his bond with Swofford is never fully explored.

Jamie Foxx, as their staff sergeant, displays a lot of gravitas, just by virtue of being Jamie Foxx. Chris Cooper, an excellent actor by all accounts, is badly underutilized as a lieutenant colonel, appearing in only a handful of scenes.

Though the acting is strong, the seemingly anticlimactic, emotionless ending leaves the viewers with a bad taste in their mouth. However, Mendes and his team are too smart for this weak ending. In the opening voiceover, Swofford explains that a man goes to war and holds a rifle; no matter what he does for the rest of his life, he still holds that rifle. To that end, everything after the war is an anticlimax, and this is what's poignantly portrayed in the film's final scenes.