STUDIO: Paramount
RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2008
STARRING: Ryan Phillippe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Channing Tatum, and Abbie Cornish
WRITTEN BY: Mark Richard & Kimberly Peirce
DIRECTED BY: Kimberly Peirce
GENRE: Drama
RATING: PG-13

It is so hard to judge a film like Stop Loss, a movie made by a fiercely intelligent and fascinating filmmaker about a subject that, without a doubt, is not getting the kind of attention it deserves. If Stop Loss makes one more person stand up and speak out about the atrocities being committed against our most patriotic young men by the very government that they're trying to defend, who knows, then maybe it's worth it. But do noble intentions alone give a movie a "pass"? If you think so, you can stop reading now, and go see Stop Loss because you're unlikely to find a more well-intended movie this season. The problem is that, with most in life, execution is everything and, even though director Kimberly Peirce and her co-writer Mark Richard are addressing an undeniably important issue, Stop Loss is merely half the movie it should be, at best. It's an incredibly frustrating drama that starts off promisingly, featuring a talented ensemble, but devolves into too much repetitive rhetoric and a predictable non-conclusion. Stop Loss is perfectly symbolic of the problem with so many of the current Iraq war movies - even the most talented and passionate storytellers are going to struggle to tell a story that's still hasn't reach its ending yet.

Kim Peirce herself describes Stop Loss as an "emblematic film," a movie that's trying to capture a wide problem and not just tell the story of a few soldiers. To do so, Peirce very loosely draws three major characters - the hometown hero, the hardcore soldier, and the troubled youth. The first is the film's lead, Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe, giving the best performance of his career), a decorated soldier who comes back to his small Texas town under the impression that he's served his country well and can now readjust to civilian life. With Phillippe's old-fashioned good looks, Brandon is the typical every-hero, the guy you can picture dusting off the horrors he saw overseas, putting up a picket fence, and having 2.5 kids. His best buddy, Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) is the more intense of the pair, the guy who clearly hasn't really left the war. After a party celebrating their return home, Steve digs a bunker in his front yard. He's the nearly institutionalized soldier, the one who will struggle to learn how to live in situations that don't require camouflage or mortar fire. Finally, there's Tommy Burgess (the always-great Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the scarred young man who buries his demons in a bottle.

This first "Coming Home" chapter of Stop Loss is the best yet produced about this war and almost makes the entire film worth seeing on its own. It contains some of the most memorable cinematic images and ideas to date about what this war is doing to an entire generation and an entire culture of young men who volunteered to protect their country and then found themselves blasting their way through Iraqi kitchens. When Brandon steps to the podium at a rally to celebrate his safe homecoming and is completely lost for words, Peirce taps into something subtle and interesting about these characters - What is there really to say? Should he go the patriotic route and turn into an Army cheerleader or just say a simple "thank you"? Or is he just nervous? It's a great scene, as is the scene that follows - a party for these young men, some of whom might not be sure there's really anything to celebrate.

The real problems with Stop Loss arrive when the "A plot" kicks in. Instead of getting his official discharge, Brandon gets stop-lossed. He's being sent back to a war that's losing soldiers and not getting enough volunteers. It's a back-door draft of the worst kind - one that punishes the patriots who have served their country well. Brandon and the fiancée of his best friend, Michelle (Abbie Cornish) hit the road, to plead his case before a senator. There's a wide-eyed optimism - that if Brandon and Michelle can get this story out that someone will have to pay attention - that's interesting, but it's here where Stop Loss gets incredibly repetitive. We hear the same speeches and same ideas from Brandon and Michelle over and over again, and the air gradually seeps out of the piece. Peirce clearly excels at telling stories of small-town life (as seen in the film's first act and her previous Boys Don't Cry), but when the film goes on the road, it loses that authenticity and starts to feel more like a political statement than reality.

To be blunt, Stop Loss is one of the most frustrating films of the year. For everything that works, there's something that just doesn't feel right. And the conclusion, or lack thereof, will only make you mad. The story is still being written. The stop loss situation is a horrible one and making a movie about it when it hasn't been resolved yet left Peirce unsure about how to write a conclusion - a common problem with the Iraq movies, most of which have become dated before the film even hits DVD. Without giving anything away, Stop Loss doesn't really have a third act...because it hasn't happened yet.