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Stop Loss
By Joey
Magidson
Stop Loss is a film
with a lot to say and no easy answers.
In short, yes.
Stop Loss is a powerful film that seems at times to be both deeply
political and completely apolitical. The strength in the film comes from
the acting and the sure-handed direction of Kimberly Pierce (making her
first film since Boys Don’t Cry); which raises the film from just
another film about the war to something truly special.
Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe, at his best since
Crash) is a war hero
returning to Texas with his friends Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
tremendous as always) and Steve (Channing Tatum, much less wooden than
usual). They look forward to life at home, especially Brandon, who seems
fed up with the life of a soldier. When he finds out that he has become
a victim of “Stop-Loss,” which is essentially a back door draft, he goes
AWOL with the help of Steve’s fiancée Michelle (played nicely by Abbie
Cornish) and looks to find someone to help him out.
All the actors do a fine job with the material, making the plight at
hand seem all too real, especially given the circumstances of the war
today. Special note has to go to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who has probably
the toughest and most tragic role to play and he handles it with
intensity and grace. Everyone here is very good, but he is great.
Pierce elects to take us at the beginning to the streets of Iraq, and
the scenes there are some of the best ever committed to film about the
current conflict. We get a real sense of what it’s like over there. Once
we return home, she switches gears a bit, but still keeps the focus on
the human element. These are men first and foremost, and turning them
into killing machines can have consequences that are sad and unexpected.
Each character is someone that a certain type of person may strongly
identify with. Steve wants to honor his contract, bang out another tour,
and get on with his life. For him, and like the tattoo on his back, it’s
death before dishonor. This is his duty. For Brandon, he can’t bear to
go back. He’s seen too much and been through too much, and feels guilty
for everyone that died under his command. He claims that he’s always
done the right thing, but this is to him is wrong. For Tommy, being home
just seems to be too much for him. Like the prison inmates in The Shawshank Redemption, he has become institutionalized, just in the ways
of the Army instead of prison.
Stop Loss is a film with a lot to say, but it doesn’t provide us with
any easy answers. Much like the current situation in Iraq, the film is a
quagmire with no easy way to break it down. It is tremendously made,
unique, powerful and heartbreaking in its final moments, a breath of
fresh air early in the year, and maybe, just maybe, a legitimate Oscar
contender. Time will tell on that front, but suffice to say, Stop Loss
is a hell of a film.
***1/2/****
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