Full Metal Jacket to make this eclectic finale." Roger Ebert said, "The movie disintegrates into a series of self-contained set pieces, none of them quite satisfying." Julian Rice, in his book "Kubrick's Hope" (2008), sees the second part of the film as continuing the psychic journey of Joker in trying to come to grips with human evil. Tony Lucia, in his July 5, 1987, review of "Full Metal Jacket" for the "Reading Eagle", looked at the themes of Kubrick's career, suggesting "the unifying element may be the ordinary man dwarfed by situations too vast and imposing to handle". Lucia specifically refers to the
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