Stanley Kubrick‘s Full Metal Jacket is a movie that forever sticks in your head. It’s not just one of the best movies about the Vietnam War, but one of the greatest war movies of all time, and it will be remembered forever for its remarkable characters and brutal depiction of a soldier’s time in service. Even the poster is iconic, a simple design with a military helmet featured on a white background – and given this legacy, it’s wholly understandable that actor Matthew Modine is upset about the artwork being changed by Amazon on the movie’s digital rental/purchase page.
If you go to the Amazon page for Full Metal Jacket right now, you’ll see background art that looks familiar… but you’ll probably notice that something is off. The camouflage coloring is normal, as is the presence of the peace symbol and the rifle cartridges, but missing is the message “BORN TO KILL.” This was evidently brought to Matthew Modine’s attention, and he took to his personal Twitter account to protest the alteration. Digging into the significance of the artwork (and giving proper credit to the artist, the actor wrote,
Who decided to remove ‘BORN TO KILL?’ Not only did they alter a piece of iconic art by Philip Castle, but they completely misunderstood the point of it being there. Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with ‘BORN TO KILL’ and the peace ☮️ button as a statement about ‘the duality of man.’
As you can see in the image at the top of this article, it is Matthew Modine’s Private Joker who actually wears the “Born To Kill” helmet in Full Metal Jacket, so it’s understandable that he would personally take afront to the artwork being changed. There is a statement being made with the message being juxtaposed by the peace symbol, and the changed artwork ignores it for reasons that aren’t immediately apparent.
You can see Matthew Modine’s original post below, which includes a screenshot and a clipping of the original poster for side-by-side comparison:
Who decided to remove “BORN TO KILL?” Not only did they alter a piece of iconic art by Philip Castle, but they completely misunderstood the point of it being there. Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with “BORN TO KILL” and the peace ☮️ button as a statement about “the duality of man.” pic.twitter.com/9XQwINJj4lJune 18, 2024
Hopefully Amazon will recognize the bizarre error that has been made here and update the Full Metal Jacket page to include the original poster art.
If you haven’t already done yourself the favor of watching Full Metal Jacket and/or now find yourself in the mood to watch the classic Stanley Kubrick film, the bad news is that it’s not streaming anywhere, but the good news is that there are plenty of other viewing options. In addition to being available for digital purchase online from retailers including Apple and Google Play, physical media collectors should make a point of adding the Full Metal Jacket 4K UHD set to their collection.