My review of “Generation Kill” edpisode 2

3:09 am on July 21, 2008 by Infidelesto

generation-killI was going to wait until all 6 episodes of “Generation Kill” on HBO had aired to speak on it, but episode 2 really hit a nerve with me so that’s why I’m prematurely bringing you this personal review of the show.  I honestly cannot say that I’m surprised that HBO would produce a series like this.  They are a well known left-wing media outlet on every front that they do.

First of all, the name of the series “Generation Kill” is so misleading and inaccurate.  Putting the idea out there to the viewer suggesting that this generation of Iraqi war vets are somehow a generation of killers is grossly inaccurate and irresponsible by HBO.  That’s just the start.

  • It’s embarrassing to watch as a certain Army commander continues to enforce his grooming standards for his troops even as the troops are engaged with the enemy.
  • It’s embarrassing to see a handful of redneck republican racist soldiers (as they are portrayed) go on and on about how they hate “hadji’s”
  • It’s embarrassing to see the left-wing “Rolling Stone” reporter be portrayed as completely grounded, sane and normal while the ignorant soldiers he’s with run their mouths over and over again about how “they just wanna kill some hadji’s”
  • It’s embarrassing to see one of the soldiers (a main character in the platoon) go on and on about how the “white man” wants to rule the world and that’s the only reason we’re in Iraq in the first place.  Funny too, he gets his time on more than one occasion, both in episode 1 and 2 to get his beef in on how the “white man” (Americans) are the oppressors and aggressors even going as far to say in episode 2 that he refused his college diploma so he wouldn’t have to “bow to the system of the white man” and then after joining the army he says like a racist bigot, “if you can’t beat em, join em, right?”
  • It’s embarrassing to see HBO portray the few who actually take the war and the mission seriously as if they are losers for keeping a diary or losers for taking their job seriously, routinely getting laughed at whenever trying to get serious about the mission.  It’s really shameful to see our soldiers portrayed in this way.

Are there rowdy soldiers like this in Iraq? sure…but don’t base the entire premise of your show on a group of dumb idiots who roll ignorantly into Iraq, against their will, not believing in their own mission, calling their own government the aggressors and systematically portraying the good guys as nothing but, well, bad…

I can’t wait to see what more garbage HBO has in store for episode three.

*update*

Seems like some people don’t like my review.  Read my response below in answering my critics.

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    There Are 11 Responses So Far. »

    1. harryparker410 on 21 July 2008:

      I absolutely agree.  This is nothing more than a collection of ridiculous caricatures of the worst stereotypical personalities that these Hollywood writers/producers imagine exist, created in the lunacy of their “progressive” agenda.  What an insult to our troops and our society. 

    2. dm60462 on 21 July 2008:

      Thanks. You just saved me $12.00 or whatever it costs to subscribe to HBO for a month.

    3. John McCoy on 21 July 2008:

      This is the worst review I have ever read.  Mr. Infidelesto obviously has no concept of military life and especially Marines in combat.  That is Marines not soldiers.  The show is about the Marines of the First Recon not soldiers in an Army unit.  The conversations I heard in this show, the ones the reviewer so bitterly laments,  are almost identical to the constant banter I heard as a combat Marine in Vietnam and I would expect Marines who served in WW2, WW1, and every other American war.   Civilians will never fully comprehend the very dark humor of the combatant.   He must have attitudes of destruction and victory or he will die in the attempt.  And worse, his comrades will fall because he fails and that is a far worse fate.  This also he will never understand.   Get another reviewer.  Mr. Infidelestro may be a fine writer and reviewer of most entertainment but he clearly does not understand what he is watching here. 

      “For those who fight for it, Freedom has a flavor the Protected shall never Know”.

      Semper Fi

      John McCoy
      Little Rock, AR

    4. Cpl Blue on 21 July 2008:

      This is a terrible review.  If you’re going to review it, pay attention.  Like John McCoy said, these are MARINES not Army SOLIDIERs.  BIG difference.  You earn the title Marine like a doctor earns his title.  With hard work.

      I did 2 combat tours in Iraq in the Marines and I LOVE this series.  This series portrays Marines to a T. 

      Another thing, the series called “Generation Kill”?  Is based on a book called…Generation Kill.  Why is it called Generation Kill?  The book talks about how men nowadays with violent movies and video games seem desensitized to violence and before going into combat, were hoping to kill Hadji’s.   Know why?  Because in basic, every command you’re given you reply with “KILL!”  It’s engrained in you, it’s almost brain washing you to be more effective in a fight.  But guess what?  Seeing some dead innocent civilians, you can see the look on their faces as if they realized that war is indeed gruesome and not entertaining.

      Also “Hadjis” are to current service members as “skinnies” were in Somalia, “gooks” were in vietnam, “krauts” and “japs” were in WW2  etc.  It’s how it is.  You’re not very PC when it comes to people trying to kill you.  And also “Hadji” is a compliment, meaning someone who’s made their pilgrimage to Mecca.  If you’re going to review it, review it for what it is, which is to show you through the eyes of these Marines what it was like to invade a country.

      Thank you.

      P.S. War isn’t gruesome just because of the violence but because it does to one’s mind.  The dark humor is what keeps you sane.  If only you understood the amount of BS one comes to experience, you have to have a sense of humor about stupid crap.

    5. Infidelesto on 21 July 2008:

      With all due respect to your guys’ service, my problem with the show is that it sends a bad message to the American public. When you have a show that puts every military indescretion under the microscope, makes our soldiers look like racist homophobes idiots, when the camera lingers on every dead body as long as possible, including dead women and children, it doesn’t paint a positive light on the mission.  You can’t tell me that the majority of Marines act like the way they are portrayed during this show.  It’s an embarrassment. 

      I know several marines personally who feel the same.  Sure, there may be truth to some of the behaviors displayed in the show and there’s no disputing that, but there is a distinction when you present this stuff to the American people.  Civilians see something entirely different than you guys do.  Is it real? maybe…but does it accurately portray the majority of our soldiers and their mission? I think not. 

      A quote from another review:

      Right away the Marines depicted are casually racist, homophobic and ignorant beyond reproach. They complain about the lack of supplies, decry their mission and mock letters of support from children back home. One Marine goes so far as to describe the little girl who wrote one of the letters as “hot.”

      The dialogue also pays the mission no favors.

      “It’s destiny, dawg. White man’s gotta rule the world,” says one Marine of color, while another jokes that his fellow Marines going in to “loot and pillage a country.”

      No one comes anywhere near supporting the invasion.

      Generation Kill wisely includes plenty of dark humor, the kind that’s only possible in wartime. Commanders obsess over facial hair regulations. Marines hear a rumor that Jennifer Lopez has died back home and do everything they can to corroborate it. And the embedded reporter loses his only picture of his girlfriend to some lonely Marines. A snapshot of a pretty girl is priceless for men in combat.

      Both Wright and the creators of Generation Kill insist their work isn’t political. But political theater often involves what an artist chooses to show and what he leaves behind. It’s impossible to deny Kill reveals some of their biases, but it’s equally hard to write off the project’s commitment to recreating modern warfare.

      As much as I appreciate your service, ya’ll are wrong on this.  This show lives and breathes to portray our brave fighting men and women in a bad light.  It’s purpose is to fulfill the left-wing bias that it’s creators intended: that we invaded a country because we want oil, and that we want the white man to rule the world, oh yea, and in the process, let’s take joy in killing some hadji’s.  Is war gruesome and horrible? no doubt, but is the mission worth it? you bet it is.

      Oh and one more thing, just cause you’re a Marine, doesn’t make you any more brave, courageous or patriotic than any other man/woman who’s stepped foot on the battlefield and laid their life on the line for this country and for eachother.

    6. Cpl Blue on 22 July 2008:

      In the book, the hispanic Marine talking about the white man’s world, was a real person.  The reporter, just like in the movie, wrote it as he saw it.  I don’t think this movie is portraying something to be positive to the civilian world.   From my personal experience in the units I was serving in, racism wasn’t remotely as bad as it was in THIS unit thats being portrayed.  As a matter of fact, one of our Marines was NJP’d (non judicial punishment) and lost rank for making a racist comment about another Marine (although they tried to cancel the paperwork due to the Marine being killed by an IED and didn’t want to put more hurt on the other Marine’s conscience.)  As for the stupidity and lack of equipment.  The Marine Corps gets roughly 10% of the Navy’s budget.  We live by “adapt and overcome”.  We truly do, “make due” with what we can.  As for the incompetence.  That isn’t a wide spread problem with all units in all branches, but there are people in charge that slip through the cracks.  Just like in Band of Brothers there were officers that were completely ignorant.  I’m reminded of the Major who always went to “radio battalion” whenver a problem arouse.  As for the homoeroticism or homophobia, when you are in the infantry everyone you fight with is a man.  Sure theres a lot of gay bashing, but its a playful thing, but there’s also a lot of homoeroticism in that you may spank another one’s ass and say “good game, see you in the showers”, show your buddies your grooming job below the belt and other things like that.    Another reason why there seems to be a lot of screw ups is because the unit depicted in this series had a change of SOPs that was new to them in warfare and with that will raise problems.  It may be embarrassing to the civilians, although everyone who has seen it really likes the series, thats just the way it is.  It may seem all screwed up, but look at the bigger picture, missions are still getting completed.
      As for me being a Marine making me braver, I never said that, nor insinuated it.  I merely stated that the title Marine is something we earned through hard work.  I thanks veterans of all branches for fighting in previous wars and never talk poorly about the branches they served in.   My friends however, of course I’m going to give them crap about being in a different service…because thats what all services do :)

      -Cpl Blue out

    7. Review of “Generation Kill” episode 3 | Infidels Are Cool on 28 July 2008:

      [...] all you critics who attacked me after my last review, hear me out.  I do not question the realities of the situations our Marines face, nor do I [...]

    8. David on 29 July 2008:

      I find this entire website disgraceful. Why encourage hatred, fear and enmity? Muslims may have different religious and social beliefs to you or I, but that doesn’t mean they’re all dangerous barbarians. I was appalled by some of the quotes from this TV show, and even more appalled by the fact that site members defended them! All this talk of killing “Hadjis” makes me sick. Violence against an entire race or demographic can never be justified.

      Maybe you should all talk to a Muslim sometime. They might be able to teach you something.

    9. Leroybrown on 29 July 2008:

      I just read the review for GK3, and saw your reference to Critics. Wow. These comments are much better than I thot they would be.  The comments really help me understand the dialog in a show like GK; dialog for which I would have had no understanding (or would have taken as ‘made up’) without the explanation by these commenters.

      Hollywood has a vested interest in training the ‘young people’ to despise the military (um, Jane Fonda/Vietnam anyone?), and it sounds like GK is, unfortunately, no different.

      One thing I would strongly hope comes from this, however, is that the military folks would remember they’re always ‘on camera’ when a reporter is around.

    10. Kal-El on 29 July 2008:

      David, Quit your crying, I talk to muslims all the time, I live among them. And I visit the paltalk and ekhlaas forums where MUSLIMS call for jihad, killing Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Atheists, Homosexuals, as the quran commands them to do, and even other muslims for not being muslim enough.

      You are free to hate this website, and we don’t care. Speak out against muslim atrocities, and you might end up dead, like Theo van Gogh, or living in hiding in YOUR OWN COUNTRY, like Geert Wilders. WAKE UP. We are not encouraging hatred or emnity. We are not out there chopping muslims heads off, blowing up places of worship, killing our daughters/sisters/mothers/cousins for “dishonoring” the family, and strapping bombs to women and children in the name of God. MUSLIMS ARE, in the name of their moon-god allah.

      You say violence against an entire demographic cannot be justified, and I agree. So why don’t you come here to the middle east, and tell that to Ayatollah Khameini, Muqtada al Sadr, Sayeed Hassan Nasrallah and all the other islamic “scholars/clerics” who call for jihad against the free world?

    11. carolyne on 29 July 2008:

      Dumb David: Now that is a new idea, Muslims teach us something? - obviously you have learned nothing from talking to them.  There is not one thing to learn from a Muslim.  None offer a better idea, and are as dark as they dress.  Those so called clothes are a cover up of their evil carnal nature and everyone should have nothing to do with them in America.  I was glad McDonald’s didn’t allow the women to work with those nasty rags on their head.  They look like they could cause a grease fire at any minute of which would be fine if it just burned them up.   Don’t come to wait on me, I’ll get up and leave.  You go McDonald’s - and all American businesses should have some guts and follow suit. Yes discriminate against Muslims and don’t trust a one of them.  They are up to no good and should NOT be allowed to live anywhere in America.  We need to kick butts and take names where these radical Muslims are concerned.  Pay attention if you love America the land of the free,  other wise we’ll be like Britain and they will get a stronghold on America.  THAT IS OBAMA’S ‘HOPE’  - HE’S ON A MISSION TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY AND BECOME A WORLD LEADER.  Obama LUSTS after this in the worst kind of way, he was born out of deception and evil.  Nothing about Obama is real, he is a true counterfeit, and good at his job.  So BO is staying away from a debate with McCain, now doesn’t that show something!  He is a  fraidy-cat, paper tiger and a few other names that would not be proper to say.  Notice Obama stayed clear on ‘HIS WORLD TOUR’ of our military afraid they might ask him a question he would not want to answer.  Excuses, Excuses!  IT’S ALL ABOUT OBAMA - GAGWITHSPOON. 
      BELIEVERS Stand fast, and be of good courage - put God in Christ first and pray for his infinite grace and mercy and God will give America a win/win in 2008! 

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