shivamt25
It is an account of a rolling stone reporter about the days he spent with many recon marines during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is based on a book by Evan Wright, which was published in 2004, describing his experience of the war. It is a seven-part series with hour length episodes.The series succeeded in presenting the real picture of the war in front of us. It is not just the stories of heroics shown by the first recon marines, it is a presentation of a part of their life when they were there and how they tried to cope with it. One of the best things about it is that there is almost no theatricality. We follow a number of characters with the totally different psyche. Some want to kill everything they see, some are incompetent for their post, some hide their nervousness with jokes and some just want this war to end. War brings them all together. When they fight, race, color, religious or sexual orientation doesn't matter. But this war is also taking some of them away from humanity as well. The series successfully showed that the operation undertaken in Iraq was far from perfect.The series follows Sgt. Brad 'Iceman' Colbert and his team. Iceman is the representation of sanity in the turmoil of the war, which is played by Alexander Skarsgard pretty efficiently. Other than that, I really liked the parts played by Stark Stands (Lt. Nathaniel Fick), Chance Kelly ( Lt. Col. Stephen 'Godfather' Ferrando), Eric Nenninger ( Cpt. Dave 'Captain America' McGraw) and Rudy Reyes (Sgt. Rodolfo 'Rudy' Reyes).Sure, it's not "Band of Brothers", but it is a great watch if you want to look beyond what we were told about the situation in Iraq at that time.
bayardhiler
I had heard of "Generation Kill" when it premiered in 2008, but was unable to view since I do not have HBO. So I forgot about it for a while until some time ago I was looking around at the local library when I just happened to sight this little, television masterpiece, and decided, especially in light of what the result of our adventure in Iraq has been in the last few years, to give it a chance. And though I can't say "Generation Kill" was necessarily my favorite viewing experience, I'm glad I did. Based off of the memoirs of a Rolling Stone reporter embedded with the 1st Marine Recon Unit during the first days of the US invasion of Iraq, it begins on the eve of that faithful event by introducing the viewer to the men of 1st Marine Recon (many of whom are based off of real life Marines), their code, standards, and every day experience. When they learn that the invasion is going ahead, they also learn that a reporter from Rolling Stone will be coming with them. Initially reluctant to having a greenhorn tag along with them, they warm up to the young writer when they learn he used to write for Penthouse, a magazine many of these young, red blooded males are familiar with! Through the production, we see the course of events through the eyes of the Marines and their "hang around" in a the most unsugar coated method possible, and we come away with no illusions about what war is really like.What makes "Generation Kill" so different from other war productions is the fact that it strips away the unnecessary fluff and puff and presents the story in an almost character ensemble/documentary style. In "Generation Kill" there is no music score or opening theme, only the crackle and chatter of voices over the radio greets us at the beginning and end credits of each episode, multiple units and men sounding off into the dead of night, which truth be told, is far more effective than any music theme could be (That being said, the final scenes of the last episode feature a most appropriate use of Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around", the only recorded song used in the entire series). There is also not much in the way of heroics or glory for the simple reason that in war, there is none to be found. There are no eagles soaring, or glory sounding tunes, or any other BS like that; only following the orders of your superiors (Even if they're complete fools or incompetent), hurrying up and waiting, and of course, death and destruction. And that last part is especially evident in "Generation", as the series pulls no punches in regards to the civilian "collateral damage" that occurred in Iraq during our invasion, and thus shows the cost civilians pay when armies, even with the best of intentions, come charging into their environment in a combat role (To those who think US troops patrolling troubled neighborhoods would be a good idea, I challenge them to watch this and then try to argue for that idea!). All of this is effectively shown through the tremendous efforts of the directors, producers, show runners, writers, and actors such as Jon Huertas, Alexander Skarsgard, Lee Tergesen, Stark Sands, Neal Jones, Michael Kelly, Chance Kelly, former real life 1st Marine Rudy Reyes, James Ransone, and many, many more who I don't have the space for. To round it up, "Generation Kill" is a mini-series that leaves nothing to the imagination when it comes to the chaos and absurd nature of conflict, be it Iraq or anywhere else. As one former Marine commented here, this is the closet thing to war short of going there and actually filming it. For a former service member to say that, you know they did something right here. If you want to see what the reality of conflict without actually being there, then check out "Generation Kill". Stay frosty.
Nick
The 'war' series follows a reporter from rolling stones magazine while he joins the 1st marines in their road trip through Baghdad. They sing, they banter, they drink, they jack off and they shoot at terrorists (although this is very limited.) The majority of series doesn't even involve combat situations. It's just the marines driving through the Iraqi wilderness singing along to bad music and taking the mickey out of each other. Girls that I have talked to who have watched this show call this "a highlight" This is good for short stretches or for those in armed services who spend days on end doing this but it just got boring after a while and I was wondering when any sort of fighting would come to fruition...It never came.At the end of the series there's a football game where all the marines (bar one)is ripped with their shirts off exposing their muscles. This is to entice your moronic and unsatisfied girlfriend into thinking the series was 'good.' The small one then picks on the big one who retaliates, the small one then walks off and cries. Afterwards they watch a homemade video about their exploits in Iraq. All the marines leave before the video finishes to give an anti war propaganda feel.The whole series is just a tease, it seems like the writers were spending 10 episodes developing characters leading up to some big conflict which never came.
