Stop-Loss

Reviewed by:
Eric Alt

The Skinny: A trio of Texans (Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) returns home for some R&R after a grueling campaign on the front lines of the war in Iraq. Phillippe's Sergeant Brandon King thinks he's completed his last tour of duty and is looking forward to leaving the constant gunfire of Tikrit for the constant gunfire of Texas, until he learns he's been "stop lossed"—basically, it's a loophole in a soldier's contract that allows the government to extend his term of service as they see fit. Enraged, King goes AWOL in an attempt to fight the powers that be, while his comrades fall apart under the strain of post-traumatic stress.

The Good: Unlike other Iraq war–themed movies that either smack of wish fulfillment (The Kingdom) or feature privileged intellectuals naval-gazing far from the front lines (Lions for Lambs), Stop-Loss focuses squarely on the kids tasked with digging in and actually fighting this political sinkhole. Director Kimberly Peirce has managed to make a movie that is vehemently antiwar while 100 percent sympathetic to the troops; and she doesn't offer any easy answers. And the three leads are strong, despite Phillippe's occasional Varsity Blues accent ("Ah don't wahnt yer lie-fe!").

The Bad: Stop-Loss goes a little off the rails once it becomes a road movie (the scene where Phillippe confronts a gang of thieves is pretty ridiculous and not even needed), but at least it doesn't wrap things up in a happy-ending box with a tidy bow. And Abbie Cornish is hot, but is given next to nothing to do for the entire movie except drive, drink, and play pool.

What We Learned About Texas: The strength of childhood friendships is gauged entirely by how many times you've punched, kicked, or shot at each other.

Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years?
Go see it. It's good food for thought at a time when we're still, apparently, 100 years away from ever resolving this crap.

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