Swofford tells about his time in the USMC, from recruitment, to qualifying as a sniper, to being sent overseas six months before the start of the Gulf War, to his three day involvement in the war itself.

I was actually really looking forward to this movie, and not just the 'santa hat' scene (although Jake Gyllenhaal is indeed a serious honey, and I'm expecting him to do nothing but improve in that regard as he gets older). The previews made it look like a serious and interesting view of the Gulf War, in the way of the brilliant Three Kings.

Unfortunately, what comes across is Swofford's emotional detachment, from the Marines as a service, his fellow Marines and everything the service stands for...he obviously hates himself, hates where he is and what he is doing, the whole experience is completely repugnant to him, and because of this distance, the viewer never feels involved in the story. He spends six months of alternately boring and terrifying duty in Saudi Arabia, spends three days of nonstop action in Kuwait...and the war is over and he is sent home. And the viewer still doesn't really feel connected to him.

It's hard to really care about what happens to him or his fellow soldiers; the most sympathetic people in the whole movie are the only two who show any character at all, his felon buddy, and Jamie Foxx, who is excellent as the career sargeant who loves his job.

But Gyllenhaal? all I kept thinking was, family tradition or no, why the heck did he even sign up? there were a few flashbacks, but not enough to explain why he would do something so he so obviously didn't want to do, and that he was not at all suited for.

Considering that it's a war movie, there is minimal violence, and again, one feels as if one is watching through protective glass; it's a newsreel, not a slice of someone's life.

Interesting but not that good. Rent, don't buy. But Gyllenhaal is AWFULLY good looking...