Based on the book by Anthony Swofford about his Gulf War memoir, it is a tale of anxious young men ready to fight.

The movie follows Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) who enlisted as a Marine and got the basic training as a scout sniper to fight in a war. In the summer of 1990, Swofford together with some of his friends were shipped off to Saudi Arabia to join the American troops in Operation Desert Shield, to fight against Saddam Hussein's Iraqi troops occupying Kuwait.

Once having arrived in the desert Kingdom, Swofford and his friends were looking for action and adventures. To their surprise they were asked to wait, days turned into weeks that turned into months. In order to kill time the Marines staged scorpion fights and the guys ragged each other about their girlfriends or wives at home. Some of them found it very difficult to get through the long hot days under the desert sun. Their waiting game turned out to be an intolerable mental block for their eagerness to kill. Find out more about these young Marines.

The talented director Sam Mendes successfully narrates a war story through a soldier. He gives a lot of attention to the training of these young men for the war. From scene to scene he steadily develops a war story without much war in it. Also, he avoids the politics involved in the first Gulf War. He has very well portrayed the impatience of the young Marines who are just waiting for action and who were ready to accomplish their goal, whatever it might be. He has put together a decent cast and draws good performance out of them.

Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford presents a very good performance. The frustration of the young soldier is very well enacted. Jamie Foxx as a sergeant also presents a remarkable performance. Chris Cooper and Peter Saragaard are also good.

The director has tried to make the film not relevant to what is going on in Iraq now, which could cause a divided public. As a true account of the war, the film should have covered more details of the war which could have made it a true war film. The visual effects are good and there are many interesting scenes in the film. If you like war films and adventures of the soldiers then you will definitely like this one.

We rate this movie ABOVE AVERAGE.