Stop-Loss Movie Review

Ryan Phillippe and Channing Tatum; Best Friends Divided by Ideals

Jan 6, 2009

Screen heartthrobs Ryan Phillippe (Cruel Intentions) and Channing Tatum (Step-Up), trade in their pretty boy images for a set of fatigues, in this gritty political drama.

MTV Films’, Stop Loss, is a film with an indefinite political agenda. In the mould of such recent Iraq/Afghanistan War protest films as, In The Valley of Elah, in which a father seeks the truth behind the brutal murder of his veteran son, upon his return from a tour in Iraq, Director Kimberly Peirce’s incarnation exposes the effects of the Wars on America’s youthful army, their families, and society as a whole.

Brothers in Arms

Ryan Phillippe plays Staff Sergeant Brandon King, a born leader of men, thrown straight into the thick of it; the insurgent-ridden urban war-zones of Iraq. By his side, his best friend, Sergeant Steve Shriver, Channing Tatum, is ever-vigilant in ensuring that they, along with their Brothers in Arms, return home safely to the comforts of their homes in the U.S.

When King and his unit are lured into a narrow alley by a group of insurgents having just breached a military checkpoint, the young staff sergeant is forced into an intense, close quarters melee, which sees his unit sustain casualties, along with a family of unarmed civilians.

Slapped With a Stop-Loss

Hailed as heroes at their small town Texas homecoming, King and Shriver, both medal recipients, resolve to re-assimilate into normal society, and to put their military campaigns aside for the simple life. All is well at home until King is summoned to the office of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Boot Miller, Timothy Olyphant (The Girl Next Door), and advised that due to recruit shortages, and the relative success of King’s leadership skills, he would be re-deployed to active combat duty in Iraq.

Phillippe’s character is bemused and left in shock of the imposition of the Stop-Loss mandate, which once enforced, obliges a soldier to remain in active service past his expired mandatory service period, if required.

On the Run

The young Staff Sergeant decides to evade further combat duty by fleeing from his barracks, stealing Shriver’s jeep, and making his way to salvation, where ever he may find it. To add to the calamity, Shriver’s fiancée, Michelle, played by Abbey Cornish (Candy), aids King in his quest to free himself from the shackles imposed by an ungrateful government, causing tension between himself and Steve, who has chosen to return to the army as a qualified sniper.

Brandon is soon made to chose between alienation from the life, family, and friends he adores, or to return to the uncertain future which awaits him in the United States Army.

Post-War Conflict

Kimberly Peirce’s tale, although blunt, graphic, and perhaps at times even un-patriotic, exposes the post-war effects suffered by an army of boy’s,forced to mature under the most extreme and disheartening of circumstances.

Peirce intricately deconstructs the characters of King and Shriver, both of which have found the transition from battleground to playground, hard to swallow. At times both character’s explode into fits of rage, and at one point Tatum’s character even experiences a moment of drunken-dementia, in which he proceeds to dig a fox-hole in his fiancée’s front yard, in his underwear. Prior to this act of insanity, Shriver beats up his girlfriend.

In addition to the post-conflict anti-social behavior displayed by the lead characters, the viewer is made privy to the saddest of outcomes of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, in which Tommy Burgess, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (10 Things I Hate About You), becomes so overcome with despair and hopelessness, that he turns to suicide.

The Verdict

Powerful, and emotive. A testament of the hardships experienced by serviceman stationed in the worlds terror hot-spots; a definite eye-opener. Phillippe and Tatum show their versatility and capability in dramatically demanding roles.

4/5 Stars

Cast

Paramount Pictures (R-112 Minutes)

The copyright of the article Stop-Loss Movie Review in Historical Films is owned by Ben Hetherington. Permission to republish Stop-Loss Movie Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.