Stop-Loss
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Movie Reviews of Stop-Loss
Movie Review: Well-intentioned but flawed
Summary: 3 Stars
Stop-Loss is a solid, well-intentioned film that has its moments but somehow doesn't quite come together to deliver the full emotional or intellectual impact it should have had. Ryan Phillippe shines as a good soldier torn between duty, honor and the haunting memories of his time in Iraq, and the rest of the cast is solid, particularly Victor Rasuk's understated performance as a severely injured private whose spirit may or may not be broken.
The camera effects in the first act are a little distracting at times, and the road trip in the second act is stretched a bit longer than necessary, but well-deserved kudos to Kimberly Peirce for shining a light on an underreported aspect of the war and taking a nuanced shades of gray approach to her subject -- the Stop Loss policy itself is bad enough, there's no need to offer bad guy caricatures -- and going with the only ending that made sense.
It's not the defining generational classic some have claimed, but it's definitely worth a rental.
Movie Review: Stop-Loss Misses the Target
Summary: 3 Stars
We watched "Stop-Loss" last night but my husband (a Vietnam vet) called it slow and I thought it lacked the impact it was meant to have. I see MTV produced it and I think they wasted too much time trying to be hip with video collages and rap music at the beginning (and later at the end). They also did not include enough "bonding" time to introduce the soldiers they were going to track with the audience so you would care more deeply about their predicament. They should have patterned it after "The Boys in Company C" but ended up producing a story that stumbled along uncertainly from one character crisis to the next. The scenes of the mangled soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital were moving but would have been more so if the character of the patient that served with the central character had been more developed. I notice Ciaran Hinds played the father but wasn't given much to work with either. Too bad really, since the point of the film needed to be made stridently.Movie Review: Good but not great
Summary: 3 Stars
Stop Loss tried hard to get the emotional impact of fighting in Iraq right, and I think they succeeded in that. Where the movie falls down is when the soldiers get back to Texas, and are being phased out of the Army. That crucial part of the movie did not ring true, nor did the ending, which I won't give away. I can't believe the Army would be so cavalier as to have a low level clerk tell a decorated non-com they are being stop lossed. That news should have been delivered by the platoon leader. But I could be wrong - maybe the Army is that cold blooded. Other than that, this movie was solid although it could have done without the requisite bar scenes, and the movie lost continuity when it shifted twice during critical scenes back to the secondary stories of those who were not impacted by the stop loss. Too bad this movie didn't get wider play -it is an indictment of the Bush Administration trying to keep up our troop level committments without resorting to a draft.Movie Review: Stop Loss by Brandon
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie was o.k. I thought it would be better than it was. The story was good and so were the actors, but it had too many cliches and the movie was too drawn out. Average.Movie Review: An Active Duty Soldier's point of view
Summary: 2 Stars
I am not a professional critic of any sort by any means, but after watching the movie and reading some of these reviews, I will say that my review is as professional and "accurate" as it gets. I am a Soldier amongst thousands, who has experienced these parts, as 'acted' out in the film, in reality, and what you see and experience in the film are not so and are far fetch. From the most ridiculous setup of a hasty checkpoint to the suicidal pursuit of the insurgents upon their attack (into an easily predicted ambush in a random small alley, at that) in the opening scenes. The Soldiers are equipped with ISR's (internal squad radios), and yet they yell at each other in an insurgent infested building when one Soldier is wounded...Then you have the main character (SSG King) who gets "individually" stop-lossed on his very last day of clearing, only to report, with another unit, back to Iraq... In the midst of this, the movie portrays that just about every Soldier who has just returned home, to include SSG King, as having the worse PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) possible, leading to one fellow Soldier's suicide. Due to this PTSD, King, at one point in the movie, notices his car has been broken into and items have been stolen; at which point, he so very easily locates the perpetrators in a nearby alley (3 that I recall, armed with a handgun) and has a severe flashback of Iraq leading him to defeat these 3 thieves. Also, once King has been informed of this stop-loss, he reports directly to his LTC, superseding an unseen and unknown NCO support channel and Chain of Command. It's all bogus.
There were many things that were Very inaccurate in this movie and I think it is the wrong way to go about Honoring America's Military. Stop-loss is real. I have experienced it myself as I was in the middle of a PCS (permanent change of station), with my family to another Overseas assignment, only to be kept at my current station for 3 months leading into me deploying. It can be very inconveniencing, but not anything like it is portrayed in the film. I was not stop-lossed as an individual or as a small group for that matter. My entire Division was stop-lossed and stop-moved. I will also say that no Soldier, or Division or Unit even, will ever get stop-lossed directly after a Combat tour anywhere to be directed to report back to Combat effective immediately. That is not to say that a Soldier will not see another Combat tour during the Stop-loss cycle however. Combat sucks, especially for those who have endured it themselves, especially on more than one occasion, and even more so for the families who have suffered the Ultimate Sacrifice. Today's Army is an ALL volunteer force and Soldier's should be well aware of what their specific job within the Army entails them to do and the commitment they hold.
Soldiers do go through MANY hardships. More than any person who has not experienced the Army or Military life themselves, will EVER know. Soldiers do fight everyday in many locations and some do pay the Ultimate Sacrifice. Soldiers do get stop-lossed, but will not quit, give up, and then go AWOL when it happens. They will complain and get disgruntle over it, more than likely, but those same Soldiers will, as we say, "suck it up and drive on." Many Soldiers do have and will get PTSD, but will experience and deal with it in their own ways. Families will be happy when their loved ones return and indescribable when they don't... These things happen in reality, both good and bad and this movie is a piss poor example of how Soldiers live their lives and how the Army works. If you are going to make a movie to Honor Soldiers, their families and their sacrifices, don't make the movie about ONE Soldier who gets stop-lossed as an individual to report back to Iraq specifically, 2 weeks after returning home and then have that Soldier RUN away and go AWOL in rage. Films like "Band of Brothers" and "Black Hawk Down" are films that Honor our Soldiers and give the civilian people a little taste of what a Soldier endures. Not this. I have yet to see any movie that accurately portrays the Soldiers today in Iraq and Afghanistan and the hardships they and their families endure, and honestly I don't wish to see a "movie" that does so. However, if a movie is going to be made, I would rather see that than what this movie did portray. Although many Soldiers have been through more than anyone can imagine, true Soldiers do not quit and run away from anything. God Bless the Troops and their Families!!