Ever since Catch 22, filmmakers have had to revise their attitude toward the futility of their subject. After this ground-breaking effort, it became impossible to glorify war and be taken seriously. Although Jarhead doesn’t attempt glorification, it doesn’t deny war its role either. Marines (jarheads – empty vessels) are part of the mechanism and it is through one new recruit that Mendes amends the status quo.

Set during the first Gulf War, Swof (Gyllenhaal) has found himself in Saudi Arabia defending oil wells on behalf of, or perhaps for, his government. There’s the futility. His Staff Sergeant (Foxx) recognises potential yet Swof is a bruised soul who wants out of the war, although it’s not clear if he wants out of the army. In fact, it seems he’d be just as happy in combat, anything to be finally doing something. For this war film is distinguished by a lack of fighting – conflict rages around them as soldiers spend countless hours drinking, playing and, at times, training for a battle they may never have. And there’s the insanity; exemplified in the marine’s telling, noisy and misguided enthusiasm for a screening of Apocalypse Now and that scene’s counterpoint when Swof stumbles on burnt wreckage.

Jarhead is less structured than Mendes’ prior work, but no less exhilarating. The film is drenched in emotion, scene after wrenching scene: some of it heart-breaking, some of it frightening, much of it highly amusing. His voice is supported by Roger Deankins’ stunning photography – the desert soaked in a storm of  raining oil is unforgettable – and the tremendous talent of Foxx, Sarsgaard and Gyllenhaal, each lending this unique film an oblique tone that puts it among the genre’s best.

// COLIN FRASER