Stop-Loss
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Phillippe Director: Kimberly Peirce Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1 Format: NTSC, Widescreen Picture Format: 2.35:1 Running Time: 112 minutes Published: 2008-07-01 DVD Release Date: 2008-07-08 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Studio: Paramount / MTV |
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Movie Reviews of Stop-Loss
Movie Review: "Your country needs you to go back."
Summary: 2 Stars
Ryan Phillippe is Staff Sergeant Brandon King, the leader of a battalion fighting in a small town in Iraq. One day, the battalion is attacked by some Iraqis in a taxicab, and King and his men chase after the culprits. The chase ends in an alleyway, where they pursue on foot. Unfortunately, they are ambushed and several of King's men are killed. We then flash forward to King and some of his pals going back home to Texas for leave. Some of them, including King, will be released, and they talk about their plans....and get drunk and fight and play with guns. These men don't seem very stable, although some of it may be related to the flashbacks they have to the atrocities in Iraq. Their leave draws to a close, and King goes back to base for one final check-in, anticipating that he will soon be a civilian. However, when he tries to check-out, he's informed by a random bureaucrat that he has to go back to Iraq - he's been stop-lossed. King is outraged, punches out a few soldiers, and hightails it home. The rest of the movie progresses from there.
"Stop-Loss" starts off very strong and builds some nice characterizations, but really takes a chance by having the protagonist take on a less than heroic stance. I suspect that some people cheered his actions; after all, the Iraq war is very unpopular and seen as unjust by many people. However, it was never clear to me why King was so upset about his stop-loss. Was he afraid of getting killed (he mentioned this a few times), was he suffering from PTSD and needed help (perhaps), or was he just mad that he wasn't informed earlier (seems so)? With such murky intentions, the character comes off as unlikeable and petulant at times. This problem made his journey far less impactful than it should have been, even when he meets with one of his former battalion members who was severely injured. Also, as others here have mentioned, it just didn't seem realistic that he was told at such a late time that he was stop-lossed. This detail and a few other issues again really impacted the movie for me. Ryan Phillippe also gives a bland performance, which further dilutes the message and emotional impact. His accent at times is so heavy it's hard to understand him and then it's nearly gone at other times. What starts off as a powerful examination of war and its effects ends up a total mess - what a shame.