Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
2.5/4
You should have the option to stop...
Lee - wrote on 02/12/2013
I'm not sure why however in every media you look up this film, everyone seems to state that it's a semi- documentary? Documentaries rarely use actors and are all real events..no? Well even though i had seen this before and noticed i hadn't posted either a review or ranking here on FC so let's take care of that shall we? the thing i enjoyed the most about this film was that not only did it suffice my war film cravings for a bit it deploys a very important message that i'm quite certain alot of people are unaware of and that is the subject that is also the title of this film 'Stop-loss'.
Stop-loss is the military term for the Us government to re-use soldiers (Without informing them ahead of time) and redeploy them in said country without giving them much choice in the matter no …
Rating of
3/4
An Important Issue
Franz Patrick - wrote on 09/14/2008
I appreciate Kimberly Peirce for making a pretty effective film about a policy that is (unfortunately) not familiar to a lot of Americans: stop-loss. Basically, stop-loss involuntarily extends a soldier’s service even if his or her contract has ended. Ryan Phillippe continues to add another serious film in his repertoire and he’s effective here as a soldier who doesn’t want to go back to Iraq. He owns every scene he’s in because you can see in his eyes that determination of wanting to live his own life after serving in the military. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Channing Tatum also did a great job portraying soldiers that took different paths. The film started off well–the scenes in the battlefield is nothing short of gripping. Unfortunately, the picture became a little unfocused …
Rating of
3/4
Stop-Loss Gets Lost At The End
GeminiSixty6 - wrote on 03/30/2008
I really enjoyed this film. I went into it knowing that it was going to be more pure entertainment than war preaching like "In the Valley of Elah" was. I thought all the performances were good, but my only complaint about the acting comes in the cemetery scene after Tommy (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) kills himself. When Bradon (Ryan Phillippe) and Steve (Channing Tatum) start there yelling match in the cemetery I just felt like that was a little rushed and forced on the actors parts.
Director Kimberly Peirce did a wonderful job on this film. In no time at all I was engaged and felt some stronge emotion for these characters. It had a meaningful plot, good action, and some good humor scenes. I enjoyed myself all the way up the end. If you do not want to be spoiled then I …
Rating of
2/4
Suffers from mixed messages and performances
newmans_own - wrote on 03/29/2008
The film does well on examining the humanity of war and the devastating after-effects it has on its soldiers. Unfortunately, the film is plagued with wooden or over-the-top performances that never fully translate the impact of the characters’ actions. As Steve, Tatum remains expressionless most of the time, marginally summoning actual emotion only when it is absolutely essential. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who delivered a fantastically nuanced performance in last year’s THE LOOKOUT, rants and raves here. He fills the typical role of dark, moody wild child but adds no further dimension to it between his manic ups and downs. Couple that in with spotty southern accents from most of the cast and you’ve got what this film offers; a bunch of attractive, marketable faces with no real …
