Welcome to the Suck!

Speaking of American Beauty, director Sam Mendes, who also helmed the critically acclaimed Road to Perdition, has Hollywood buzzing with his new project, Jarhead, which is set for release in theatres on November 4th, 2005. And judging by the film’s teaser trailer which was released this past Friday, it does not take much to guess why. Based on former Marine Anthony Swofford's best-selling anti-war tome, “Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles”, the film adaptation is suppose to act as a direct parallel to the current conflict in Iraq. Sure, they could easily develop an original story based on the modern war in Iraq and use it as a propagandist tool to protest the U.S. military involvement but that would be too easy, even by Hollywood standards. They want to set it up in such a way which makes it seem as if they are intelligent and yet keep it simplistic enough for the simple-minded and naïve to walk away entirely brain-washed. And to top it all off, the feature film adaptation of Jarhead was written William Broyles Jr. who served in the Vietnam War, a point the filmmakers have been quick to promote about this film’s screenplay. I can understand the left comparing the Operation Iraqi Freedom to the war in Vietnam, I may not agree with it but I can understand given that this is turning out to be a lengthy military operation, but this is set against the original Persian Gulf War which in no way pales in comparison to Vietnam, let alone the current war in Iraq. Click the picture below, watch the teaser trailer and decide for yourself. Welcome to the suck!