"Stop-Loss" (2008) - Movie Review

The stop-loss policy in US military is the involuntary extension of a soldier’s term even after his/her successful term of service. It is been put to use heavily in the ongoing Iraq War. It is known to the soldiers when they sign the contract but is it ethical and lawful in the current war? Director Kimberly Price’s “Stop-Loss” is about a Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) who is stop-lossed and he does not want to go back. He wants to fight the system and his odyssey towards that supposed to form the core of the film. It does not though.

I for one learning about this policy have an opinion against it. It shakes the foundation of what we define as right. The film draws its stance from it and goes directionless immediately. The PTSD is known and horrific, but there is an inner deep meaning from a personal stand point. What it has done to them and how they perceive it should have been the angle Pierce should have taken. There is a young soldier under the wings of King, Tommy Bugess (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who needs psychological help desperately; rather it is assumed to be taken on the leadership of King. How far can one go towards disaster like this? We are supplied half naked facts about the terror these soldiers go through.

There is a confrontation by King towards his superior Lt. Col. Boot Miller (Timothy Olyphant), a promising start of many discussions on this policy and as a whole the war from a soldier’s standpoint who has dedicated his service honourably and wants something from the country. What we see though is a road trip with improper planning and random judgments. Continuously we are fed the horrors in flashes and the weird reactions from these young men. Some want to go back to fight not able to withstand the normal life (which we never get to see much) and some like King wants out of it. It is clearly against war but tries to tell through an individual soldier’s basis on his duty and acknowledgment. A nice thought which fails to materialize much on its content.

This year marks the 5th anniversary for this war. Enemies are made up out of family man and defense becomes an offense for the occupiers. “In the Valley of Elah” is a film which from US soil told through a war veteran losing his son in the army. It had more dimension and performance much required for a script having subtle signals of anti war and ends up strongly as one. “Stop- Loss” has that as its slogan and has a purpose lost in it. The derangements of their minds are going nowhere but why is it no one really talking to them in the film? These men know the reality of being men and not being macho. They are angry and confused but not stupid.

Films like this are tough to review because the belief one has towards the war should not trump how the film really was. I support the views and cause of what director Pierce attempts to do but it is sad that it never reaches out beyond a point. In the end it ties a knot which is messed, unreal and loses its agenda. There is an unclear tension between King, his best friend Steve (Channing Tatum) and Steve’s fiancée Michelle (Abbie Cornish). Thankfully it does not turn into a triangle love story albeit that it does not add up to the story either. I wanted “Stop-Loss” to be a good if not great film and it needs a script rewritten to focus exactly what it wants to. Without that what is happening seems no sense as Steve says to King in the end.