 Another aggregator Metacritic gave it a score of 76 out of 100, which indicates a "generally favorable" response, based on 19 reviews.Reviewers generally reacted favorably to the cast, Ermey in particular, and the film's first act in recruit training, but several reviews were critical of the latter part of the film set in Vietnam and what was considered a "muddled" moral message in the finale.It ranks on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills.