U. S. soldier Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) returns home after completing his tour in Iraq. He soon leans he is being stop-lossed and being sent back to Iraq. Refusing to go back he goes AWOL.

This is a pretty hard hitting movie about soldiers adjusting to life outside of the army after witnessing the tragedies and losses they have experienced in the war. The opening scene was very well shot and portrayed the realism of the war quite intensely. Brandon quietly realizing what he had done was effective. The visuals did bring some authenticity to quite a weak screenplay.

The whole topic of PTSD and stop-loss is one that many young men might want to look into before joining the military. This isn't the most effective movie for that due to some of the writing that is its own downfall, but it certainly isn't the worst. The performances were really well this film excelled. Ryan Phillippe is brilliant as the lead solider being drafted back and watching how he copes with this bought the movie to life for me. Channing Tatum and and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were also incredible. I was incredibly sad watching Levitt deteriorate as he did, it was a real powerful performance from him.

The middle act did feel a little uneven at times and I was not quite sure where the director was heading with it. Ultimately it did fall short in the end as I just couldn't connect with the decision Brandon made. It felt like an easy option to take, and I failed to understand why he chose what he did.

Stop-loss started off powerful with stunning visuals and a decent middle that slowly went downhill with weak screenplay and weak direction. 6/10.

Stop-Loss is a pretty hard hitting movie about soldiers adjusting to life outside of the army after witnessing the tragedies and the losses they have experienced in the war. The opening scene was very well shot and portrayed the realism of the war quite intensely. Brandon quietly realizing what he had done was effective. The visuals did bring some authenticity to quite a weak screenplay.

The whole topic of PTSD and stop-loss is one that many young men might want to look into before joining the military. This isn't the most effective movie for that due to some of the writing that is its own downfall, but it certainly isn't the worst. The performances were really well this film excelled. Ryan Phillippe is brilliant as the lead solider being drafted back and watching how he copes with this bought the movie to life for me. Channing Tatum and and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were also incredible. I was incredibly sad watching Levitt deteriorate as he did, it was a real powerful performance from him.

The middle act did feel a little uneven at times and I was not quite sure where the director was heading with it. Ultimately it did fall short in the end as I just couldn't connect with the decision Brandon made. It felt like an easy option to take, and I failed to understand why he chose what he did.

Stop-loss started off powerful with stunning visuals and a decent middle that slowly went downhill with weak screenplay and weak direction.

6/10

Extended Enlistment.

Kimberley Peirce’s (Boys Don’t Cry) movie proved to be controversial in military circles. The story is about the stop-loss procedure used by the American military, a kind of small print tactic that can extend a soldiers service should their country deem it so. Sergeant Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) returns home from the Gulf Wars with his mentally scarred pals fully expecting to get back to a domestic life without blood and brains dominating his personal landscape. Yet he is called back in for another tour of Iraq under the stop-loss procedure, something he rebels against and goes AWOL. He has done two tours already, surely he has earned his retirement?

It starts off in electrified fashion, the horrors of the war in Iraq bursting from the screen as a firefight ensues, character traits are introduced to us, we are left in no doubt that the soldiers at the end of this tour of duty have seen it all. Pic then settles into a sort of cross between a road movie and a PTSD portrait awash with emotional strangulation. Peirce and her co-writer Mark Richard have honourable intentions, but too much is given over to stereotyping, of stock clichés and the bold signposting of character’s futures. They carefully paint King as a model soldier, this is definitely not about cowardice, but come the cop-out finale it’s evident that the narrative suffers glaring inconsistencies and confused messaging.

On the bonus side is the performances of the youthful cast, where some fluctuating accents aside, Phillippe, Channing Tatum and Abbie Cornish are superb, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes a weakly written part crackle with pained emotion. Of the elders, most are underwritten, which is a shame when you got the likes of Ciaran Hinds in the cast. We are left as a whole with a film that is as uneven as a dusty road in Tikrit, not only in narrative structure, but also in actual facts as regards the procedures of the American military, both on the written documents and execution of duty in battle.

It was a flop at the American box-office and it’s not hard to see why, but it still has merits. Even as the familiarity tries to breed contempt, the anguished reality of a soldiers life, during tours and post service time, strikes a mightily distressing chord. 6.5/10