Jarhead is a film with a powerful story, striking cinematography, and standout performances from Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, and Peter Sarsgaard. Directed by Sam Mendes and based on the memoir by Anthony Swofford, it offered a raw, psychological look at modern warfare that set it apart from traditional war films of the era. But today, Jarhead is often remembered as just another solid mid-2000s war movie. What many people don’t realize is that this critically respected film somehow spawned a string of direct to DVD sequels so disconnected from the original that most audiences don’t even know they exist...let alone why there are so many of them. So how did a thoughtful, character driven war film turn into a bargain-bin franchise? Why did studios keep making Jarhead sequels long after the original story had been fully told?