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MOVIES / ON DVD / STOP-LOSS
Stop-Loss

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Stop-Loss (2008)

65%
78%
70%
N/A
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N/A
65 %
Reviews Counted: 131 Fresh: 85  Rotten:46 Average Rating: 6.3/10
 
Consensus: Stop-Loss is sincere and complex, and features strong performances, even if it tries to cover too much ground.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Rated: 15

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Theatrical Release: 25-04-2008

Synopsis: Director Kimberly Peirce (BOYS DON'T CRY) tackles another controversial topic with STOP-LOSS, the story of a U.S. soldier forced back into battle. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) has just returned to Texas after a harrowing final tour in Iraq. He's accompanied by the remaining men from his... Director Kimberly Peirce (BOYS DON'T CRY) tackles another controversial topic with STOP-LOSS, the story of a U.S. soldier forced back into battle. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) has just returned to Texas after a harrowing final tour in Iraq. He's accompanied by the remaining men from his unit, all of whom are more than a little shell-shocked. Welcomed home as a hero, Brandon is awarded a Purple Heart by a visiting state senator. But the homecoming quickly turns sour, as each of the soldiers struggles to assimilate back into society. Tommy (Joseph Gordon Levitt) can't lay off the booze, and Steve (Channing Tatum) roughs up his fiancée. Brandon is eager to put the war behind him, but that dream quickly fizzles when he learns that he has been "stop-lossed," or ordered back for another, involuntary tour of duty. Stunned by the news, he goes AWOL and forms a plan to get help from the senator who so recently honored him. He hits the road for D.C., all the while trying to cope with PTSD and battle flashbacks. Torn between his fierce patriotism and what he believes to be outright betrayal by the U.S. Army, he doesn't know where to turn or what to do. He is ultimately faced with the harshest of choices: Iraq, or a life in exile. There are now dozens of films that grapple with the war in Iraq, but STOP-LOSS is unique in its attempt to reach out to a younger audience. Produced by MTV, the film features a striking young cast and a thumping hip-hop soundtrack. There are many commendable performances, most notably from Phillippe and Levitt. Despite the occasional melodrama of some of the scenes, Peirce pulls no punches, and really hammers home the tragic exploitation of American troops. [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ciaran Hinds

Director: Kimberly Peirce
Screenwriter: Mark Richard, Kimberly Peirce
Producer: Kimberly Peirce, Mark Roybal, Scott Rudin, Gregory Goodman
Composer: John Powell

DVD Info

Release:

Aug 7, 2008

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Additional Scenes - (11)
  • Audio Commentary - 1. Kimberly Peirce - Director 2. Mark Richard - Co-Writer
  • Featurette - 1. THE MAKING OF STOP-LOSS
  • 2. A DAY IN BOOT CAMP

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
3/5

Distancing Stop-Loss from other Iraq films by highlighting an American military tactic that has been little talked about, Peirce has crafted a credible but hardly outstanding effort that may disappoint those expecting another Boys Don't Cry.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/25/08
James Mottram
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

Stop Loss takes some time out from the argument over the validity of the war to ask a question closer to home - whether the emotional battlefield America subjects its young soldiers to is actually worth it.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/25/08
Laura Bushell
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/6

It’s the film equivalent of a weary shrug – capturing the national mood at a moment when we’d all prefer some mood enhancers.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/25/08
Jessica Winter
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

Strong performances from the young cast make a compelling case that the US govt is failing its soldiers, but the film’s a little too much of a blunt instrument.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/25/08
Helen OHara
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

Kimberly Peirce's long-awaited follow-up to Boys Don't Cry is a thought-provoking, emotionally engaging drama that packs a surprisingly powerful punch.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/24/08
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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6/10

...once it makes its point, it tends to pile on, never making an entirely convincing drama nor an entirely convincing argument.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/02/08
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
Ratings Image
2.5/4

The film gets pretty heavy handed in the last third and is weighed down by an inadequate performance.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/18/08
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine
Ratings Image
4/5

The reason "Stop Loss" works, unlike its 2007 predecessors, is that it cares more about its characters than it does about making a political point.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/11/08
Stephen Silver
The Trend
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2.5/4

[Peirce's] film looks at the fallout of war in lives lost and lives ruined, pain that has a trickle-up effect on our nation's image of itself.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/05/08
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly
Ratings Image
N/A

It strokes every personal ideal, whatever it is, rather than aligning itself with its characters and letting the conclusions arise out of who they are.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/03/08
Robert Davis
Paste Magazine
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3.5/5

Though it is very message oriented and a little sloppy at times, I found the subject to be really interesting and the opening war scene will blow you away.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/24/08
Kevin McCarthy
WJFK-FM (CBS Radio)
Ratings Image
N/A

The war in Iraq has itself become the realization of the shameful "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy (it's not just gays and lesbians that are being told to look the other way). Stop-Loss reveals just one ugly aspect of such insidiousness.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/22/08
Richard Knight
Windy City Times
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B

An honest vocalization of the inchoate discomfort so many Americans on either side of the political divide are feeling.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/15/08
Nathaniel Rogers
Film Experience
Ratings Image
4/5

But whatever you think about the Iraq war and the people who are fighting in it, you'll be shaken up and moved by Stop-Loss.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/01/08
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC
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B

Telling antiwar film as seen through the eyes of those patriotic volunteers who fought in Iraq and are now disillusioned.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/17/08
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
3.5/4

A powerful film that doesn't pull punches, "Stop-Loss" is the first important film of 2008.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/15/08
Michael A. Smith
Nolan's Pop Culture Review
Ratings Image
2.5/4

Peirce ... dramatizes the problems of the Iraqi War vet with more subtlety than we've seen from other filmmakers.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/14/08
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
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N/A

The Worst Years of Our Lives

Full Review | comment Comment
04/11/08
Thomas Peyser
Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)
Ratings Image
3/4

A flawed movie, made with sympathy and integrity...

Full Review | comment Comment
04/11/08
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Ratings Image
N/A

While the film is far from perfect, Stop-Loss is one of the better narrative features to be made about the Iraq War.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/10/08
Ethan Alter
Giant Magazine
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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