It's not a war movie: it's a movie about soldiers 
He made his name in British theatre, but it was with his acid-dipped portrait of suburbia American Beauty that Sam Mendes made Tinseltown sit up and notice. The Brit helmer's feature film debut bagged a whopping five Oscars in 2000, which no doubt helped to attract the likes of Paul Newman and Tom Hanks to his next pic, period mob drama Road To Perdition. Now Kate Winslet's other half has taken on Jarhead, former marine Anthony Swofford's no-holds-barred account of his Gulf War in 1991.
Jarhead is released in UK cinemas on Friday 13th January 2006.
