MOVIE · 2005

Jarhead

DramaWar125 min

Anthony Swofford enlists in the Marines, survives boot camp, and lands in the Persian Gulf expecting combat that never quite arrives. Jake Gyllenhaal is Swoff, a young sniper trained to kill but stuck in the long stretches of waiting, heat, and uncertainty that define his unit’s deployment. Around him, Jamie Foxx’s Staff Sgt. Sykes drives the men hard, while Peter Sarsgaard’s Troy shares the pressure of a war fought at a distance. Sam Mendes follows the platoon through desert boredom, crude camaraderie, and Swoff’s growing fear that the life he left at home is slipping away.