Full Metal Jacket the 1960s. At that time, Kubrick talked about wanting to explode the usual conventions of narrative structure. Sergeant Hartman (renamed from the book's Gerheim) has an expanded role in the film. In the film, Private Pyle's incompetence is presented as weighing negatively on the rest of the platoon and in the film, unlike the novel, he is the only under-performing recruit. The film omits "Hartman's" disclosure to other troops that he thinks Pyle might be mentally unstable, a "Section 8". In contrast, Hartman praises Pyle, saying that he is "born again hard". Jenkins says that the character of Hartman could
Full Metal Jacket into a series of self-contained set pieces, none of them quite satisfying" and concluded that the film's message was "too little and too late", having been done by other Vietnam War films. However, Ebert also gave praise to Ermey and D'Onofrio, saying "these are the two best performances in the movie, which never recovers after they leave the scene." This review angered Gene Siskel on their television show "At The Movies"; he criticized Ebert for liking "Benji the Hunted" (which came out the same week) more than "Full Metal Jacket". Their difference in opinion was parodied on the television show