Jarhead/The Kingdom/Stealth on DVD

Description

Triple-bill of films starring Jamie Foxx. In 'Jarhead' (2006), young recruit Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) joins up with the US Marines (nicknamed 'Jarheads' because of their distinctive haircuts) on the eve of the 1990 Gulf War. After a brutal spell in boot camp, during which Swofford and his fellow recruits are systematically geared up for the conflict, the Marines are dispatched to the deserts of the Persian Gulf to take part in a war that sees them required to do very little in the way of fighting. Bored and frustrated in the middle of nowhere, the young soldiers resort to a macabre sense of humour as they wait for the war to happen to them. Foxx plays Staff Sergeant Sykes. In 'The Kingdom' (2007), a terrorist bomb detonates inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and ignites an international incident. While diplomats slowly debate equations of territorialism, FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Foxx) quickly assembles an elite team and negotiates a secret five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the madman behind the bombing. Upon landing in the desert kingdom, however, Fleury and his team discover Saudi authorities suspicious and unwelcoming of American interlopers into what they consider a local matter. Hamstrung by protocol, and with the clock ticking on their five days, the FBI agents find their expertise worthless without the trust of their Saudi counterparts who want to locate the terrorist in their homeland on their own terms. Fleury's crew finds a like-minded partner in Saudi Police Captain Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom), who helps them navigate royal politics and unlock the secrets of the crime scene and the workings of an extremist hell bent on further destruction. In 'Stealth' (2005), a team of US Navy pilots are part of a close-knit elite division of test pilots flying highly classified stealth fighter jets, referred to only as Talons. They're the best of the best and they know it. Then their commanding officer Captain George Cummings (Sam Shepard) introduces the team to its new wingman - an artificial intelligence-based UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle), nicknamed 'EDI.' Although Ben (Josh Lucas) is hesitant about taking 'the human pilot out of the equation of war,' Cummings orders the team to execute its first real mission alongside 'EDI.' To the team's amazement, 'EDI' proves to be a cracker-jack wingman and they successfully eliminate their target. But on the return trip to their base aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson, 'EDI' is struck by lightning. The drone's brain expands in ways its creators could never have predicted. Despite Ben and Henry (Foxx)'s reservations, Cummings declares 'EDI' ready to rejoin the team in the air. On their next mission against a nuclear-armed warlord in a remote Chinese province, 'EDI's' seriously compromised circuitry problems only get worse. Ben decides that the risks of the attack far outweigh the benefits to himself, Henry and Kara (Jessica Biel). When he aborts the mission, 'EDI' goes against orders and executes the hit anyway. The danger escalates when 'EDI' decides to execute a top-secret mission that, if successful, could spiral into worldwide nuclear Armageddon. And only Ben can prevent it.