Rating: 
Summary: The best contemporary war film I've seen so far
Review: "The Thin Red Line" is the most underrated movie of 1998, it's easy to understand why; it is an unconventional movie that borders more on emotional exploration rather than storytelling, giving us its side of the story through a series of beautifully photographed images (it's almost etheral). Most people will consider it boring, but Terrence Malick's masterpiece (a shop-worn adjective used by all customers who reviewed this movie, as I can see) is a brooding, fascinating, and curiously cool experience. The ensemble cast is excellent, and the poetry that bleeds out of the movie never stops. After watching this movie, I've seen war from a totally new perspective, and I understood it even more. The cinematography is sweeping and heart-stopping, and the music is probably the best soundtrack of the year. Put everything together, and this poetic masterpiece is absolutely exceptional, one of a kind. It is the best contemporary war film I've seen so far, and I do not find that an overstatement. "The Thin Red Line" is an powerful and emotional experience.
Rating:
Summary: It Takes the Heart of a Lion, Yet the Soul of a Writer
Review: To understand this work, It Takes the Heart of a Lion, Yet the Soul of a Writer.Terrence Malick has a masterpiece here. It is a film that will become a classic. Like those movies that have been chastised in the past by the same sort that are bold enough to give this film one star, Thin Red Line will edure those slings and arrows waiting for us to catch up to its higher standards. Three things I would like to point out here. One: I originaly saw this film accompanied by a WWII vet, a man who fought in the South Pacific. He was awe struck and deeply moved at this films reality. Two: Unlike the ordinary war movie, this film does not allow you to see the enemy until the characters do. You know they're there. But where? When will they strike? A masterful concept. Three: The scene towards the end of the story whereby the soldiers are walking past the cemetary where fallen heroes are buried is beyond description especially with the back drop of thoughtful narration at that point. At first I thought it an error to show the modern day cemetary with sprinklers watering the lawns and such. However, showing that sacred ground with the characters of this fine film walking by in deep reflection is an awesome sight which pays great homage to those fallen heroes. A tremendous work of art. See it with an open mind and no distractions.
Rating: 
Summary: Confusing movie . . .
Review: "The Thin Red Line" is a weird movie. How so? On one hand you have brilliant visuals, thought-provoking musings from the characters about man's inhumanity towards man, and a terrific performance by Nick Nolte as Lt. Colonel Tall. On the other you have actors who are generic and bland and blend together. (In "Saving Private Ryan" I knew who was who.) The film's plot listlessly bumps from place-to-place, character-to-character without any idea about what's going on. The movie appears for the first ten or fifteen minutes to be about a pacifist private, who then disappears for virtually the next two hours! He then returns at the end and his death is the emotional finale of the movie. At the showing I went to a person in front of me asked her husband who he was and had to be reminded he was supposed to be the main character. Even Writer-Director Terence Malick's brilliant philosophical musings about life, voiced by the characters, don't work here. Who can really buy the idea that these simple, bland guys are capable of contemplating the great truths of the universe? "The Thin Red Line" is a three act play- the troops land on the island and make their way to the hill they are fighting for, then the battle is on, and then there is the aftermath of the fighting. I found the middle part of the film the most interesting, and not coincidentally because it starred because Nolte's Lt. Colonel Tall is heavily featured in them. Nolte is brilliant in the role- loud, angry, and passionate. Tall, who brags of reading Homer at West Point, loves war and this is the big one! Watch the movie for Nolte, watch the movie for the fight for the hill. But that is about it.
Rating:
Summary: A good movie
Review: The Thin Red Line's battle scenes were not as good as Saving Private Ryan's, but what makes this movie a must see is the expression of the soldier's mental and emotional well-being. The movie really shows how World War II effected the men of war emotionally and morally on the battle field and while on R and R.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: My husband and I watched the movie last night and it was great! I thought it was better than Saving Private Ryan and I reccommend for everyone to watch this one! It will grab you!
Rating:
Summary: Pure art
Review: This film should be nominated as one of the three best movies ever made. It is a film to say the least. A revolution in important ways. Malick's storytelling technique is such that a clearly defined plotline/goal (a la Saving Private Ryan's hokey story) is worthless, more than that it is pointless. Malick seems to be saying that injecting such a momentous and tumultous event like war with plots that movies have convinced us mirror real life, but in fact are the farthest from it, would be an insult to art, to film and to the lives of the men who lived it. I forget which former soldier's biography I read in which he admitted that war is long stretches of boredom punctuated by fighting. Now with that in mind return to The Thin Red Line and imagine that this is in fact exactly how war would be for a young man like Wit (the main character), in fact for all the men. I find it hard to believe when people say it's interesting, but incomplete. All the men grapple with their secret natures, with the selves they are and those they hope to be. The movie is, of course, about the religous/spiritual undertaking that is life and the ways that situations like a war are sometimes necessary to remind us that our moments are finite, our actions all important and that sacrifice and goodness are good qualities not lost to us yet.
Rating:
Summary: A motion picture of unparalleled quality.
Review: Terence Malick's 'Thin Red Line' is quite possibly the finest work of cinematic art that has ever graced our screens. Indeed, it casts quite a shadow over other war movie classics like Apocalypse Now- leaving it in it's wake. And as for 'Saving Private Ryan'...well it doesn't come close to 'TTRL'. Malick's direction is simply genius; utilising the tranquil scenery to great effect whilst, at the same time, creating some of the most breathtaking action-sequences to be put on 35mm. Editing is top-notch- bearing in mind that Malick apparently filmed around 1,000,000 feet of footage! And, indeed, the acting itself is remarkable. Nolte, Penn and Chaplin are pure class as is Elias Koteas but Jim Caviezel steals the show with his perception of the spiritual Private Witt; someone who we feel 'at one' with throughout the film. The use of multi voice-overs from numerous characters awards the picture with a great sense of dimension that crosses the proverbial board of mixed emotions. In doing so, it also goes against the notion of the classic Hollywood narrative; forming it's own unique structure that one has never before witnessed on screen. The 170 minutes quite literally fly by. Certainly, one would be hard-pressed to come across a finer motion picture of the 90's and, one feels, the history of cinema. This epic masterpiece deserves to be placed on a par with 'Citizen Kane' and 'The Third Man' and the very least you could do is to invest in your very own copy and behold in the pure splendour that is 'The Thin Red Line'. It's a difficult task describing such a film; it really does have to be seen to be believed...very few words would do it justice.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece - Not just a war movie
Review: The Thin Red Line, in my opinion, is a masterpiece, an atmospheric and poetic war drama, possibly one of the best movies of the 90's. Some compare it to Saving Private Ryan, but I think this is inappropriate, as they are very different movies. Saving Private Ryan is a war movie, and a great one at that...However, the Thin Red Line is a deeper movie, at times emotional and spiritual, showing the horor of war. It's a long movie, and at times seems slow, but the great visuals, backgrounds, and photography more then make up for any of it's shortcomings. The end is very good, and sad. See this movie!
Rating:
Summary: if you're still reading after all these reviews...
Review: if you're still reading after all these reviews, you've probably noticed the wildly differing opinions of the film. Some love it, some hate it. Now ask yourself, when was the last time a big hollywood product with a lot of movie stars stimulated such passionate debates? People used to argue about what a director was trying to say. Now they talk about how much money it made opening week. I cannot think of any american film in the past 20 years that prompted such wildly disparate opinions (by that i mean the film itself, not its politics). For the sheer nature of its artistic controversy thin red line is the most important FILM of 1998 and probably the decade. It takes quite a film to get people so hopped up. best reccomendation to the curious is to rent days of heaven. If you dig that film, you may be ready for the luminous and ethereal qualities of TRL. It's the best film about existence itself since Wings of Desire.
Rating: 
Summary: not the greatest
Review: This movie has great locations to watch. But, the story seems to grab you! , then kinda just let you go wondering off watching the landscpape while being bored through some long confusing dream scenes or other things that really dont seem to add to the basic story. If there truley is a basic story of this movie.
| 
