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Reviews Counted:138
Fresh:89
Rotten:49
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.
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... [More]
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Whether designed with a pacifist agenda or simply intended to make the case for a return of the draft, this compelling saga compassionately establishes that Iraq War veterans shouldn't have to be wounded physically to be considered damaged goods.
Despite flaws, it raises the question of conducting a long war with a politically necessitated all-volunteer force, something future leaders may look back on as a bitter lesson learned.
Problem is: 'Stop-Loss' isn't really about that legal loophole. Instead, it's about soldiers' post-traumatic stress, a subject covered far more effectively before.
It is an ambitious film, trying, as it does to tackle all the problems of war at once, but it is emotionally powerful nonetheless.
Whether you consider "Stop-Loss" to be pro- or anti-war, one thing is for sure: it's definitely pro-soldier.
Comprised of bitter, beautifully observed truths butting up uncomfortably against loads of hoary Hollywood hooey...the movie's real war is with itself.
A good movie for people who groan at the idea of watching a war movie. It's more entertaining and engrossing than its peers. But what's the message? Send more troops to Iraq? Send all the troops home from Iraq?
This movie could have addressed a real issue, but instead turns into Home of the Brave: Part II without 50 Cent.
Despite having appeared in Clint Eastwood's melodramatic World War II drama Flags of Our Fathers, (Ryan) Phillippe doesn't quite muster the leading-man depth to deliver the killer performance this haunting drama requires.
One of the few movies that understands the complexity of choosing military service and doesn't stereotype soldiers (as some movies have) as violence-prone brutes or flag-waving chumps.
In Stop-Loss filmmaker Kimberly Peirce once again excels at storytelling.
The film manages to walk a line that is not antiwar in the main, but is distinctly pro-soldier, and thus takes pains to speak to the plight of the American serviceperson.
Swamped by clichés, continuity problems, stock characters and very good intentions.
Stop-Loss can't quite decide whether to focus on making a powerful statement on a controversial and unfamiliar military policy or on a more predictable drama about the traumatic effect of war on young people's lives.
It's a richly textured, psychologically acute film that takes an unblinking look at the tattered life of the returning soldier, and it's boosted by two powerful performances from Phillippe and the increasingly impressive Tatum.
The movie is a gripping but very limited view of their lives.
As a nation, we owe them more than they owe us -- as this painfully necessary and heartfelt movie makes abundantly clear.
Top CriticGraceful, intelligent and respectful of the complex feelings generated by war.
Though it's no Boys Don't Cry, there's something about Stop-Loss that haunts you: Peirce has an uncanny way of catching the fierce light in her actors' eyes.
Clearly, Peirce's motives are pure. She's not using the 'stop-loss' issue as a wedge to make the government or the administration look bad. She's using it to dramatize an injustice and to advocate on behalf of the soldiers.
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