Jarhead (2005) - Mendes flops with frustration-themed Marine drama

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A young soldier with no uniform on his top half marvels at a barren oilfield in a foreign land on this poster for Sam Mendes' Jarhead

A young US marine gets deployed to First Gulf War (1990), against his own ill and without much understanding of the situation. 

Jarhead is written by William Broyles Jr. (Apollo 13 (1995)), adapting the same-titled 2003 autobiographical book by Anthony Swofford (Exit (2007)), and directed by English master filmmaker Sam Mendes (American Beauty (1999)), whose 3rd feature it is. The title is a Marine slang term for themselves.

Definitely not a typical war genre movie, Jarhead is a kind of study of the anticlimax of war and frustrations that war - and life in general - entail.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Wildlife (2018)) very skillfully portrays the young protagonist marine. The images of the Iraqi desert are handsome, (cinematographer Roger Deakins (A Serious Man (2009))), and the film is underlain with music typical of its period. SPOILER The film revolves around the almost poetical dilemma that the young men think they get sent to war, but instead they wait around for 175 days in 45 degrees heat, before the war ends and they get to return home without having fired a single shot. The lack of plot is still somehow remarkable in Jarhead.

 

Related posts:

Sam Mendes: Spectre (2015) - Mendes' 2nd Bond is mostly good  

rly celebrated third pout from Daniel Craig as Bond in slick production
Away We Go (2009) or, Where Do We Start This Family?

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
American Beauty (1999) or, Escape by Death

Watch a TV spot for the film here

Cost: 72 mil. $

Box office: 97 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.34 times its cost)

[Jarhead premiered 27 October (Hollywood) and runs 123 minutes. Gyllenhaal was paid 3 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from December 2004 - ? in Arizona, New Mexico, California and in Mexico. The film opened #2, behind Chicken Little, to a 27.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 62.6 mil. $ (64.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 9.5 mil. $ (9.8 %) and Germany with 4.7 mil. $ (4.8 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Mendes returned with Revolutionary Road (2008). Gyllenhaal returned in Zodiac (2007). Jarhead is fresh at 53% at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Jarhead?

Away We Go (2009) or, Where Do We Start This Family?

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Still-based, hand-drawn poster graphics like this on the poster for Sam Mendes' Away We Go clearly denote tongue-in-cheek indie wittiness

A young couple are going to be parents, but when his parents move to Belgium, they no longer have a reason to stay where they are, and so they head out on a cross-country-trip to find the ideal place to start their family.

A natural funny/happy opposite to English master director Sam Mendes' (Jarhead (2005)) tense period drama masterpiece preceding it, Revolutionary Road (2008), Away We Go is a road movie and a love comedy that won me over little by little. It was mostly due to the charming lead actors, John Krasinski (Aloha (2015)) and Maya Rudolph (Forever (2018, Tv-series)), and fine supporting actors like Allison Janney (The Big C (2012, TV-series)), Jeff Daniels (Allegiant (2016)), Jim Gaffigan (The Love Guru (2008)), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Monster House (2006)) and others in parts that are, however, quite caricatured, indicating to us and our protagonist couple the various different pitfalls that other couples fall in over time.
Away We Go is written very sweetly and with some laughs by husband-and-wife writer-team Dave Eggers (The Circle (2017)) and Vendela Vida. Mendes doesn't distinguish himself much as a director here, but of course does successfully check off another genre on his list.
The music is a tiring acoustic, indie, singer/songwriter hotchpotch mostly by Scottish musician Alexi Murdoch (Fire Horse (2013, short)).

Related posts:

Sam Mendes: Spectre (2015) - Mendes' second Bond delivers
Skyfall (2012) - Overly celebrated third pout from Daniel Craig as Bond in slick production
American Beauty (1999) or, Escape by Death

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 17 mil. $
Box office: 14.8 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.87 times the cost)
[Away We Go was released 5 June (USA, limited) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place in Florida, Arizona, including Phoenix, Colorado and Connecticut. The film opened #26 to a 130k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 506 theaters, grossing 9.4 mil. $ (63.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.9 mil. $ (12.8 %) and Italy with 1.3 mil. $ (8.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. Mendes returned with Skyfall (2012). Krasinski returned in It's Complicated (2009), Rudolph in Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Summer Edition (2009, TV-series), Presidential Reunion (2010, short) and theatrically in MacGruber (2010). Away We Go is fresh at 67 % with a 6.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Away We Go?