Stop-Loss: Getting the War Right

2007 was swamped with movies on Iraq and Afghanistan that became tied up in opinions and messages about the war. All of these seemed preachy and condescending, speaking from a soapbox more than entertaining and trying to move the audience. Stop-Loss is the first movie to touch on the Iraq war without getting too caught up in telling us what is right and wrong. Instead, it gives us characters, keeps them simple without the operatic lectures on what should be done (Lions for Lambs).

The story follows three Army soldiers returning to their hometown after serving in Iraq. Two of them are leaving the service. They drink, make mistakes, and are haunted by memories of the war. Moral dilemmas arise when one of the soldiers getting out, Brandon King (Cruel Intentions, and Breach's Ryan Phillipe), is ordered to do yet another tour in Iraq past his final discharge date in a fine print clause known as "stop-loss." This goes badly as King flees, intent on having his stop-loss removed by having his Senator do him a favor. He's on the run, contemplating going AWOL as he visits family of soldiers who have died under his command and a wounded comrade.

Aside from the moral dilemma, the three soldiers (more like brothers) deal with post-truamatic stress and troubles adjusting to home. King seems to be the only one not drinking too much, while Burgess (The Lookout's Joseph Gordon-Levitt) tries to drown out regret and Shriver (Tatum Channing) tries to pull King back to the base while Shriver himself re-enlists against the wishes of his fiance.

On the delivery of the movie, it has the right angle, approach, and intention, but could have used a better director and writer. While acceptable, small areas could use improvement. The street shootout in Iraq was confusing, shooting in every angle without the audience knowing what was shooting which way, a problem that Ridley Scott worked around in Black Hawk Down. The texas accents are too heavy at times, and often noticably fake (the exception is Gordon-Levitt's performance, as he keeps the accent small, that way it doesn't seem forced or switches from heavy to fake). The characters are not fully developed at first. When Shriver tells his fiance he is re-enlisting, it seems he is only doing this because the script says so. Later on, once we're more familiar with his character, we understand why. Had his character, the thoughts he had, been clearer earlier, then this would not seem so forced and therefore more believable.

The movie avoids overarching (some critics call it "afraid to touch the heavy issues" but I say that is the mistake of movies before this one). We have only one lecture on keeping promises, and that is in a dispute between King and his commanding officer (Timothy Olyphant, who should never be cast as a tough guy). The rest is left for us to determine from their actions or spoke towards the end, when the characters are at their breaking points. As Shrivers' fiance says at one point, "I can't take another year without him touching my face." King equally loses it, saying it's not his fear but "that box we keep all that stuff locked away in the back of my mind? It's full, it's overflowing."

What director/writer Kimberly Pierce did do right was dodge the monologues. When the soldiers throw a gernade at an enemy, then see afterwards the family was in the same room he was shooting from, no words are needed. Instead, we realize any feelings and regrets when friends eagerly ask the soldiers how the war should increased to just carpet bombing the country, the soldiers remorsefully respond they should kill everyone that shot at their fallen comrades.

The feelings of brotherhood and closeness can be seen, and the story keeps it to the soldiers and price that is paid at home. In the end, I didn't feel lectured, although the message of reality of a war lasting longer than expected without a draft is clear. Other critics are less enthusiatic about the movie, but after the waste of time that has been previous movies about Iraq, I am happy to have something that doesn't make their mistakes and is still a good movie.

For more on Joseph Gordon-Levitt, read the Rant article on http://redtierant.blogspot.com/2007/11/quiet-guy-and-wild-guy.html.