Stop-Loss (2008)

Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) and his men get caught in an ambush in Tikrit, Iraq. Several are killed in the incident. King returns home to Texas as a hero. Senator Orton Worrell promises to care for his injured comrade Rodriguez. His friend Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) shows signs of PTSD scaring his fiancée Michelle (Abbie Cornish). Tommy Burgess (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is drunk and gets thrown out by his wife. Brandon, Tommy and Steve report back to the military. Brandon is surprised to be stop-loss. He is ordered back to Iraq despite expecting to be discharged. He goes AWOL. Along with Michelle, he heads for D.C. to get help from Senator Worrell.There are a few interesting performances but the movie takes on too much. It needs more scenes of quiet character development and concentrate on fewer people. Not everything has to be issues about being a soldier. It pushes a little too hard when King goes super-soldier on those thieves. There's probably a better and simpler movie in here.

I enjoy making up "double-bill" evening nights with films that match in some way--both versions of The Maltese Falcon, for instance, or two films about pianists. An evening spent watching both Stop-Loss and The Hurt Locker comparing their strengths and weakness was fascinating,comparing brilliant and committed performances from the two lead actors, Ryan Phillippe and Jeremy Remmer. The latter film seems to center on the kind of man who is addicted to war and does his job well, but Peirce's film shows a bright young man from Texas who experiences some brutal battle, has done his time, and then is called back, simply because the war is eating up the other volunteers. It is curious that what was once a strictly male director's province, i.e., war films, has been usurped by two women: both Peirce and Kathleen Bigelow delve deeply into the male experience of battle, the former also connecting with what the people back home are feeling and experiencing. Both films question the validity of war from different viewpoints, and while not luridly political, deliver some scathing commentary on its effects on the human mind; while Stop-Loss is no Paths of Glory, it is effective story-telling, perhaps enlightening viewers clueless about those who are shipped overseas more than once.

This film is about three US soldiers who goes back home after the war in Iraq. One of them gets redrafted back to the army on the day he is supposed to be discharged from the army.I did not know about the plot of "Stop-Loss", and hence I was in for a shock. "Stop-Loss" is so different from other war films, as it portrays the other side of war. It does not tell how glorious wars are, but the physical and psychological traumas that entails from these gruesome wars. The portrayals of the trauma are very real, ranging from physical disability, flashbacks, difficulty adjusting to civilian life and disrupted social relationships back home. These problems are so real and authentic, making the plot so engaging and effective. I did not like the ending though, as I do not quite understand the psychological processes behind Ryan Philippe's character's decision.It is refreshing to view the life of a soldier from a different perspective, and I am pleasantly surprised by "Stop-Loss".

To those of you thinking not everyone in the military is a beer guzzling, hick, you are right. But it is also true that a lot of us hated what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. We love our country and respect most of our leaders. Not all, but most. We in the 82nd airborne, Medic unit Mash 3 love our country but know that this is a bloodbath and nothing more. Another rich defense contractors war. Where are the Senators sons/daughters. Comfortable in their wealth away from any of this. It's a real portrayal of a slice of characters in another senseless fiasco. So making this 10 lines I will also say that you can't speak unless you were there. You didn't see it the way it really was and is. Ridiculous to keep these wars going when our own country has no health care, losing jobs, foreclosures. It's all one sided. Bravo Kimberly Peirce for yet another brilliantly direct film.