Poignant Stop-Loss a Powerful Soldier’s Story
Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) is an Iraq veteran and war hero. Returning back to his home in rural Texas, he and his best friend Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) are given the welcome of a lifetime, Senator Orton Worrell (Josef Sommer) even stopping by to thank the pair for their selfless years of military service.
Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish and Ryan Phillippe in Paramount Pictures' Stop-Loss
Not that civilian life is all that it is cracked up to be. Another of their comrades, Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), is seeing his marriage fall completely to pieces, while their former commander Lt. Col. Boot Miller (Timothy Olyphant) is using every persuasive maneuver he can think of to get the duo to reenlist. Even the usually stoic Steve is having his difficulties readjusting, his penchant for digging foxholes in the front yard with his fully-loaded sidearm strapped to his shoulder causing fiancé Michelle (Abbie Cornish) a lot of chain-smoking worry.
But it isn’t until the military refuses to let him go that Brandon finally reaches his own breaking point. He’s a victim of stop-loss, the government choosing to renege on its promise to release him from service and instead decides to ship him and his buddies back to Iraq for another tour in the smoldering hot desert.
With Michelle driving, Lt. Col. Miller fuming and Steve trying to fix things before they spiral out of control, Brandon goes AWOL and heads for Washington, DC to see Senator Worrell. This new conflict tests everything the decorated soldier believes in, the strains on his friendships and the pressure on his family nothing compared to the newfound fury he suddenly feels towards the country he’s shed blood, sweat and tears for.
The most remarkable thing about Stop-Loss, director and co-writer (working with Mark Richard) Kimberly Peirce’s first film since 1999’s Oscar-winning Boys Don’t Cry, is that it isn’t anti-war. It is, in fact, very pro-soldier, looking at the fighting men and women our country sends over to the Middle East with a teary-eyed reverence that’s difficult to resist. These are our sons and daughters, our brother and sisters. These are our friends. These are our neighbors. These are the people we see, touch and smell each and every day of our lives.
It’s a brilliant way to draw people into the story on the filmmaker’s part. Every single picture concerning the so-called “War on Terror” has failed to draw any sort of audience at the box office, and by twisting the focus from the controversial conflict towards the men and women fighting and dying inside of it Peirce creates a viscerally emotional center people are going to have a hard time shying away from.
These are people they can relate to and understand, their commitment to their country and to one another as strong and as vital as their own, so watching them deal with the repercussions of this back door draft it is almost as if it is happening to them and not just the dumbstruck soldiers up on the movie screen. The war isn’t the issue here, the people are, and anyone who has been affected by this conflict can’t help but be moved by the gross indignity of this horrific military policy.
Not that the film is perfect. Far from it, unfortunately, the director biting off more than she and her writing partner Richard can chew. There are far too many tangents and not enough time to fully flesh them out, the talented Gordon-Levitt being hung the most out to dry, his psychologically hamstrung character given a a disappointingly short shrift. The film has The Best Years of Our Lives aspirations but can’t quite rise up to them, only the protagonist and his best friend popping off the screen with any sort of electric sizzle that’s both primal and alive.
Which is really too bad. Peirce has a dynamic eye and an attention to detail that’s absolutely one of a kind. She brings these soldiers and their tales to life in ways we’ve never seen before, her use of creatively shot battlefield footage bringing a grunts-eye perspective to warfare that’s shockingly unique. If the edges could have been a little sharper, the focus a little more crisp, this film could have been one for the ages, and like pictures as diverse as Platoon, Das Boot and Battleground (to name but three) it could very well have defined a catastrophic worldwide event for many generations to come.
As it is, the film is still pretty darn potent and worthwhile. Phillippe commands the screen like he never has before, while pretty-boy Tatum proves he’s more then just another pair of rippling biceps and a smolderingly seductive smile. The central story itself is undeniably effective, the ultimate twists and turns it takes as excruciatingly emotional as you could ever hope for them to be.
Stop-Loss isn’t going to be the ultimate cinematic statement on the Iraq War – that is still to come, probably sometime in the next decade – but it is a strong aria to what it is to take up the mantle of soldier and have your country belittle that sacrifice by throwing you into the meat grinder over and over again. While I hope people will see it, my gut tells me as a collective audience we’re unfortunately still not ready. Much like this conflict, that’s a sad state of affairs almost too depressing for me to even comprehend. Go see it and prove me wrong.
- Review reprinted courtsey of the SGN in Seattle
Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)
Additional Links:
- Interview with writer and director Kimberly Peirce by Sara Michelle Fetters
- Stop-Loss Theatrical Trailer
