The first Gulf War hasn't yet proved fertile ground for Hollywood film-makers, although David O Russell's Three Kings did set a caper plot in the aftermath of Saddam's withdrawal from Kuwait. Director Sam Mendes takes a more literary run at the subject with this adaptation of Anthony Swofford's memoir Jarhead, in which the author relates not only his experiences of the absurdly short war - the ground operation lasted less than 100 hours and he didn't get off a shot in anger - but also the brutal process of being transformed into a marine. Mendes delivers some stunning imagery, notably the hellish sights that greet the soldiers as they wander among the blazing oil wells of the Kuwaiti desert, and he renders everyday marine-life well, both in its tedium and occasionally unpleasant detail. He also draws good performances from his young cast, particularly Jake Gyllenhaal as the narrator, "Swoff". But he's finally hamstrung by a screenplay that delivers an inevitably anticlimactic third act - without any chance to see the characters tested in the combat for which they yearn, the audience becomes curiously uninvolved and almost as frustrated as the marines themselves.

Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swofford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action. Swofford struggles with the possibility of his girlfriend cheating on him, and as his mental state deteriorates, his desire to kill increases.