78
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumElliptical, full of subtle inner rhymes...and profoundly moving, this is the most tightly crafted Kubrick film since "Dr. Strangelove," as well as the most horrific; the first section alone accomplishes most of what "The Shining" failed to do.
- 100NewsweekJack KrollNewsweekJack KrollAs brutally unsparing as "Platoon" was, it was ultimately warm and embracing. Kubrick's film is about as embracing as a full-metal-jacketed bullet in the gut. [29 June 1987]
- 100The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyKubrick's harrowing, beautiful and characteristically eccentric new film about Vietnam, is going to puzzle, anger and (I hope) fascinate audiences as much as any film he has made to date... A film of immense and very rare imagination.
- 100Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittWhat makes the film stunning is less its metaphorical scheme than its cinematic style. Always a matter of flowing camera movement, Kubrick has photographed much of the action with long "traveling shots" that capture time and space as a seamless whole, not fractured into the bits and pieces of standard editing techniques. [26 June 1987]
- 100The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottMay be the best war movie ever made...Different is Kubrick's artistry and control, and his almost perverse, but philosophically progressive, refusal to impart to chaos a coherent narrative contour.
- 90VarietyVarietyAn intense, schematic, superbly made Vietnam War drama.
- 88Chicago TribuneDave KehrChicago TribuneDave KehrThe film has undeniable power, but it's an unusual and unsettling power, a product of a collision between red-hot material and the cool serenity with which Kubrick observes and accepts it. [26 June 1987]
- 80TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA perversely fascinating movie--one that answers no questions, offers no hope and has little meaning. In a way this is perfect for what the film has to say about war, but you find yourself numbed and apathetic as the film progresses.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleThe concluding image of men silhouetted against the dying flares of explosives, as they march to the raucous refrain of the Mickey Mouse Club theme, is masterly, but leaves a viewer curiously discomfited. Whereas "Platoon" shattered civilian complacency about that war, Full Metal Jacket is merely numbing. [26 June 1987]
- 30Wall Street JournalJulie SalamonWall Street JournalJulie SalamonBy most standards of conventional film narrative, this movie is a mess. [25 June, 1987, p.22(E)]