Dir. Kimberley
Peirce, 2008, US, 113 mins
Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Abbie Cornish
Review by Richard Beaumont
The long awaited film
to follow director Kimberly Peirce’s Academy Award winning feature Boys
Don’t Cry back in 1999, Stop-Loss is a political war
drama focusing on the lives of a small group of friends/soldiers
who return home after serving their country in the war in
Iraq.
Staff Sgt Brandon King (Phillippe) is one of the soldiers
who returns home to a hero's welcome. Greeted by everyone
with handshakes and smiles, he and his comrades Sgt Steve
Shriver (Tatum) and Tommy Burgess (Gordon-Levitt) are truly
happy to be out of Iraq, and especially, out of the army.
However, as they reunite with their loved ones and try to
return and fit into everyday society, they all find their
experiences while at war in Iraq, haunting their thoughts.
Their emotional and psychological traumas are obvious, in
their outbursts of violence and destructive behaviour as
they struggle to return to their original, now unfamiliar
way of living.
Circumstances take a dramatic turn
for the worse when Brandon's enlistment is extended, a
term referred to as 'stop-lossed'. He receives direct orders
from the military to return to Iraq for an unknown period
of time. With his heart set homeward and the horrific ordeal
that he witnessed within battle, Brandon decides to fight
his cause resulting in him fleeing. Now a military fugitive,
on the run from the same country he has fought for, Brandon
has only Michele (Cornish), a childhood friend and fiancée
to Steve, for company and moral support as he tries to
obtain misplaced justice from his previously trusted and
respected superiors.
With a solid cast and a director whose
previous film was beyond successful, Stop-Loss comes with
high expectations to be a great psychological war feature.
However, this was not the case as it failed to deliver
even a remote connection with it's audience. The dialogue
appears overly simple and seems quite repetitive, especially
between the two main characters Brandon and Steve. Although
the idea is original, as it offers a completely distinct
version of a dramatic military situation, the script is
not strong enough to produce the powerful messages that
Peirce is trying to get across. The performances within
are good and it was always a risk casting Ryan Phillippe
as the lead; the role of Brandon is completely different
from any other he’s played. And though Phillippe's
performance should be credited, the one distinct factor that
makes Stop-Loss a worthwhile film to see is the performance
by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. His portrayal of Tommy is both entertaining
and convincing.
|
