There are certainly enough movies proclaiming “war is hell,” but very few would say war is boring. “Jarhead” is one of the few.

Directed by “American Beauty” and “Road to Perdition” helmer Sam Mendes, and based on a book by Marine-turned-English professor Anthony “Swoff” Swofford, “Jarhead” is a rigorous examination on how advanced technology and changing tactics marginalize the experience of several soldiers in Desert Storm.

The movie opens with Swoff (Jake Gyllenhaal) joining the Marines out of dedication to the two generations of veterans of his family before him. While his experiences in boot camp are far from ideal, Swoff persists, eventually falling under the command of Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx), who heads a sniper and scout unit. Swoff also befriends Troy (Peter Sarsgaard), a fellow Marine who unofficially struggles to keep the peace within the unit. As the Marines are deployed to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, they soon find themselves rendered obsolete in the face of precision-guided missiles and massive airstrikes.

Like all of Mendes’ previous work, “Jarhead” turns out above-par performances and moving cinematography wrapped inside a thoughtful and well-scripted story. The movie wastes no time getting into the depths of its characters and stories. On the other hand, unlike virtually any war movie to date, “Jarhead” contains very little actual gore. The filmmakers instead find other ways to affect the audience, through an abundance of well-paced drama and character interaction.

The lack of visceral violence in “Jarhead” is also an allegory to the state of mind of the Marines, who are merely riding the coat tails of a war run by satellite and lasers instead of blood and bullets. Swoff is especially tormented by his girlfriend’s steadily indifferent outlook on their relationship stateside, but all of the men are desperately determined to see any sort of action in the war. This is not a commentary on the bloodthirsty nature of the men, but the desire to make even a miniscule difference in the war they fight. In the beginning of the film, all of the Marines cheer during the helicopter raid scene in “Apocalypse Now,” but now, the very air support they once glorified has completely suppressed them.

Ultimately, Swoff makes the comment that, “All wars are different. All wars are the same.” Through this statement, “Jarhead” takes a fittingly apolitical stance. The film is not criticizing the decisions made by the brass or even the administration during the first Gulf War, nor is it even stipulating the experiences of one Marine unit to speak for the experiences of every unit in either Iraq war. But as Swoff observes a weathered Vietnam veteran, the film does succeed in making universal statements on the nature of war, envisioning the burden of regret and unfulfilled existentialism that is carried through all battles.