MovieChat Forums > Jarhead 2: Field of Fire (2014) Discussion > An acutal Marine's perspective on this m...

An acutal Marine's perspective on this movie...

posted 10 years ago by Albino_Hyena
34 replies | jump to latest

Alright, I only watched the trailer (because there's no way I'm wasting my time with this *beep* but let me tell you right off the bat why a two minute preview of this movie alone has made it the laughing stock of the military community:

1) I've never actually used the term "Jarhead" to refer to myself or another Marine, and no, Jarhead is not a coveted title you earn. The title of Marine is what you pride yourself in.
2) Only non-infantry personnel Marines are still issued the M16 A4 service rifle (grunts are issued the M4); so somebody talking about all their hardcore war-dog training with and M16 A4 will be viewed either as an inaccuracy or a total joke.
3) Probably the biggest of all, the main characters are mentioned to be "supply Marines". To be fair, the bulk of the Marine Corps is non-infantry personnel, and they still are trained in basic infantry and war fighting fundamentals, but the reality is most of them will never see any action or put those skills to use. Which is why it's such a joke that they send five guys from supply on this top-secret mission (not recon, rangers or any kind of special ops unit), and that they fight their way back to Camp Leatherneck with all their mad skills. If you've spent your entire time in the military working in the administrative and logistical side, then no, you're not going to be slaying the entire Taliban by yourself.
4) The part where they're partying aboard Leatherneck and clanking beer bottles with their commanding officer...yeah, I don't even know what to say about that.
5) The phrases "semper fi" and "oorah" are the last things you would be shouting at each other during or after a firefight.

[–] simon-bache 10 years ago

Your judgement/condemnation of this film is absolutely ridiculous. It's a movie for Christ's sake. To answer your points in order;

1) It's a movie not a documentary.
2) It's a movie not a documentary.
3) It's a movie not a documentary.
4) It's a movie not a documentary.
5) It's a movie not a documentary.

Easy.

Perhaps you should just stick to message boards discussing marine manoeuvres with your fellow jarheads instead of making inane remarks about films.

Perhaps you will realise that your comments are entirely fatuous given the responses to your comment - as is evidenced by the fact that mine is the only one.

Shalom.

[–] BriankDK 10 years ago

well...it might not be a documentary - but still at least TRY to make the move a little close to reality.

It is expected to be realistic on the most basic things - like a cop in a cop movie should be dressed like a cop, not like a doctor, or is that also under the titel "It's a movie not a documentary" ?

Anyhow, i like the reviuw from Albino_Hyena, and im definetly NOT gonna see this movie, hence im so old that these errors hes pointing out simply would ruin the movie for me - i need it to atleast be realistic in the basics....... otherwise its just laughabel !

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] moviemasochism 9 years ago

but still at least TRY to make it close to reality

You act like they were wearing exo suits and shooting lasers. It's not a damn documentary. It's not a biopic or educational video. It's an action movie. Of course details like the ones listed above are going to stand out to a Marine. I'm pretty sure a teacher could nitpick Kindergarten Cop or a toy company executive could nitpick Big... if they were a-holes. But people with some iota of intelligence know that the vast majority of movies prefer creating drama or comedy for the sake of entertainment and will come at a cost of realism, otherwise why not just make a documentary instead of a work of fiction?

And honestly: your analogy of using the wrong weapon being like a cop dressed as a doctor? Really? A little advice: use an analogy or use hyperbole but not both especially if you're critiquing a movie because it's not based enough in reality. That sure is a lot of creative license you're taking for someone who denies others any.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Edohiguma 9 years ago

It's a movie in a realistic setting, so making *beep* up doesn't really work. Put this movie into the year 2501 and you can get away with this stuff easily. But a movie set in contemporary times should get at least the basics right.

Also, the argument "it's a movie not a documentary" is what gets us all of today's Hollywood trash. It's also an excuse constantly fielded by intellectual hedgehoppers who're simply lazy.

Also, the number of responses to his comment proves absolutely nothing.

[–] CuriousDan 8 years ago

Simon-Bache, let's suppose you are a doctor or a carpenter or whatever. Now you go see a movie with doctors, carpenters, etc. and you notice some stupid errors, which you point out at IMDB. Then every one of your points is replied with: It's a movie not a documentary.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] C.S.Wood 10 years ago

An acutal Marine's perspective on this movie...

Hello, I have a question.

In the movie, the good guys are taking cover inside a building in a small room during a fire fight. The bad guys then fire an RPG into the room and it explodes in the center of the room. All the marines survive this with no injuries except for temporary hearing loss that lasts about 30 seconds.

My question is, are marines given some kind of super soldier formula that allows them to take an RPG to the face and live? Because that would be pretty cool.

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] marctams 10 years ago

Yes, marines are given a super soldier formula that enables them to take an RPG to the face. The formula also enables them to sh*t bullets and drink their own p*ss.

[–] VanBooter 10 years ago

When marines go into battle they also shout "Oorah" the meaning of which is a non-profit Jewish organization providing year-round activities and educational opportunities to Jewish children and families.

[–] horton-2 10 years ago

The splatter damage wasn't enough for a kill. Perhaps if they stacked the rockets and they shot three into the room at once they would all have been dead.

[–] grahamn-5 9 years ago

fire an RPG into the room and it explodes in the center of the room. All the marines survive this with no injuries except for temporary hearing loss

Hold on a sec... I watched this on Netflix last night and the marine actually got punched in the guts by the RPG, which lifted him up across the room to the wall - then the RPG exploded (very Tarantino I thought)

Are you saying that that Marine survived? I assumed he was blown into little bits.

[–] Sidewindr 8 years ago

Indeed he was blown to bits. Plus most RPG's are shaped charges for armour piercing so it is conceivable that the occupants in the room could survive it.

[–] ryan-399-310572 10 years ago

You didn't watch the movie, so most of your points are not valid. And get off their back. It's a low budget movie that was awesome if you remove the stick from your backside before watching.

[–] Albino_Hyena 9 years ago

"You didn't watch the movie, so most of your points are not valid." You're totally right; I may have been a Marine for four years and actually deployed to Afghanistan, but until I watch this movie I can't criticize it's glaring inaccuracies about the most basic elements of military life and operations...sounds legit.

[–] linus-hirschi 9 years ago

So tell me, how do the toilets look in Afghanistan?
Because cleaning toilets is all you did there, jarhead.

[–] flyer-50463 7 years ago

Even if all he did was clean toilets, he is much better than you, moron!

[–] linus-hirschi 7 years ago

I was making a joke. Damn, looks a bit sharp in retrospective... Well, I didn't mean it like that, sorry.

[–] flyer-50463 7 years ago

You were not. There are things you are not supposed to joke with. This is one of them. If you do not know that person, the so-called "joke" was disrespectful.

[–] Nizzemancer-1 9 years ago

If they're going to *beep* all over the first movie they should just name it something else, it's glaringly obvious to anyone with more than a two digit IQ that this piece of *beep* movie was tossed together to make a quick buck, their artistic integrity can go *beep* itself.

Light travels faster than sound,
that's why people seem bright,
until you hear them.

[–] hebertjj-416-45533 9 years ago

I also have only seen the trailer and I too noticed the A4 vs M4 mistake ( and I've never been in the military.) It's a movie about Marines, the service arm that prides itself on it's riflemen and they don't even get the correct rifle! If they expected Marines to watch this they should have at least got that correct. Maybe they were on a low budget and A4 props were cheaper than M4 props.

I may still watch it, but mistakes like this are like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

[–] cyborgt800-1 9 years ago

Well this older Marine was initially issued an A1 then an A2 .....so I wouldn't know.

As for super Soldier formula....it wouldn't do anything to a Marine...Marines are NOT soldiers.

Give a soldier some of that super soldier juice you talk about might qualify them to be a first phase drop...

[–] UrAPog 9 years ago

Well I watched the whole movie, so my opinion has bigger balls than yours. This movie rocked my Olive Drab socks.

[–] airbornedragon82 9 years ago

I only watched this because my marine buddy said it was pretty good. My only reply is they didn't send this group on any special mission, it's the mission gone bad thing. Overall, it was not the worst military movie I've seen, but it was not great.

[–] linus-hirschi 9 years ago

military mystics and masochist fetishists - god bless america. torture and be tortured! violence begets violence.
you're the laughing stock of the whole wide world btw. quit destroying the planet with your petrodollar scam.
gheh.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] drivenkick43 9 years ago

Re: No. 3
You probably should have just left this point out of your critique, especially since you haven't seen the movie. That's not at all the way it happens. They are on a supply mission when the remains of a Seal team that got hit bad flag them down. That's how they end up with the girl they're supposed to take back to the base. It's the seals were sent to extradite her, not the supply Marines.

And it is mentioned several times that they are just supply Marines, not a fire squad. The Marine squad leader tells the Seals that he had never fired his weapon at anybody until that day.