Rating: 
Summary: Made Me THINK
Review: Before television, we relied on radio for entertainment. Without a visual medium we were forced to imagine and think. When television came along we essentially discarded our imaginations. The screen became our autopilot. Private Ryan and TRL are like television and radio: one takes you on a guided tour through a calculated story filled with well-defined characters. The other forces you to sort some things out. The red line on a war map distinguishes areas of conflict from those of peace. PVT Witt straddled the line throughout the movie, in death as well as life. The native that walked past the soldiers without fear had apparently learned to cross the line without fear. TRL is a great movie, but if you're looking to be entertained I'd recommend Private Ryan.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very realistic.
Review: As an ex-marine I did not know these types of characters. Obviously Malick was never in the service, or maybe just the navy. These actors could have been in the boyscouts on a picnic. Who stops to smell the roses in combat if your fighting on the ground. See "Full Metal Jacket", "Platoon" or "Paths of Glory" for something closer to the truth.
Rating:
Summary: ignorance is bliss
Review: I guess if you aren't intelligent enough to see sub-plot and psychological meaning you wouldn't like this movie. However if you are smarter than the average workaday grunt Thin Red Line marches over Private Ryan in most every way.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a film that touches the hearts of those who feel.
Review: After I came out of the theater, just having seen the Thin Red Line, I was in shock. I felt like I had just been transported back to the South Pacific in World War II. The Thin Red Line's flamboyant counterpart, Saving Private Ryan, shows you what World War II looked like, the characters where very un-believable, the plot unlikely. The Thin Red Line not only gives you a glimpse of World War II, it transports you back in time, gives you the feeling of being there. You become friends with the main characters, feel like you are one among them. The actors, Malick, Hans Zimmer with the score, all did an excelent job, creating a movie that has touched me and changed the way I look apon life. From the opening scenes of the alligator to the closing scenes of leaving the island, this movie is a journey through time and through the heart and soul.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother With This One
Review: This movie was a big disappointment. It had a great cast of actors, but failed to deliver on the plot. The writers/directors/producers failed to do any type of historical research. The most glaring mistake being the the US Army was not involved in this battle, the Marines were. Outside of this, I stongly feel that A LOT more could have been done. I was very bored watching it, and wanted to fast forward through most of the movie. Rent before buy!
Rating:
Summary: A sad waste of good acting and great cinematography
Review: After a masterpice like "Saving Private Ryan" this film will leave you very disappointed. It's just too boring to watch more than once. There's hardly any action and the plot is paper thin. Please don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Saving Private Ryan, but very, very close
Review: What a film! The beutiful and at times almost poetic cinematography is just one of this movie's many quallyties(?). The caracthers are very well portraied and every actor doe's a good job. The story is very well written, altough some of the lines are a bit cheesy. But, all in all: The Thin Red Line is an absolute wonderfull movie about the nature of man and war. Go see it!
Rating:
Summary: Worst rape of a classic war novel I've ever seen
Review: Does anyone read books anymore? Many of the 5 star reviews of this movie put down the people who negatively review it, but have any of you high-minded, artsy types spent the time to read the book? This movis has almost NOTHING to do with James Jones (himself a combat veteran and much of his book was based on his WW2 experiences) classic war novel. I don't care what kind of crap Malik feels he needs to put on the screen, he shouldn't be allowed to insult a great work like The Thin Red Line. First off, when Malik's troops hit combat we could care less what happens to them, we don't know them. Sean Penn would have been a good pick for the first sergeant in an accurate portrayal, but Malik turns him, from the alchoholic, sadistic character in the novel into some sort of milktoast goofball. In the book there was no deserter paddling and frolicking amongst the natives and god's creatures. Malik's combat scenes were disgusting, he couldn't decide if he was Sam Peckinpah or someone doing another Vietnam war movie, ie: the ridiculous village burning scene, it wasn't in the book and wouldn't have occured in WW2. Not to mention all the executions of surrendering Japanese. I really looked forward to this movie and was completely appalled by it when I saw it. The arrogance of Malik to think his vision of the war and what participants thought was more accurate than the authors is almost frightening. I only hope to God he doesn't obtain the rights to The Naked and the Dead...
Rating: 
Summary: Confused
Review: This movie was just plain confusing. Maybe if I understood it more I would have enjoyed the film. The film went forward, backwards and sideways, I could'nt understand what the main character was talking about half the time. This movie seemed to be pretty deep, but maybe a little too deep. Or maybe I'm just too shallow. I usually dont get lost at movies but this one stumped me. During most of the movie I was uninvolved and distant, I had no connection with the characters, I could'nt even remember the characters names an hour later. Now if you want to see a psychological war movie. A movie that gets into the mind of soldiers and is also very deep, then see the best war film of all time, Apocalypse Now! And I heard that it is supposed to come out on dvd tue 11/22!! What a day for war movies,Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now & The Thin Red Line. Which one do you pick? I'll take the first 2. As for the Thin Red Line, I am going to give it another shot, but will rent it first. I hope to understand and enjoy it more the second time around. After all there are movies out there that the more times you see it the better it gets. I hope this movie is one of them because it looks like it could be a very good movie, if the audience could understand it and could get involved.
Rating:
Summary: More of an essay than a story
Review: The first time I watched the movie, I left the theater wondering what I had just seen. Having seen "Saving Private Ryan" eariler that year, and with "Full Metal Jacket" and "Paths of Glory" as my favorite war films, I WAS NOT prepared for this movie. I was compelled to go back and see it one more time the following weekend. The movie to me brought to the forefront two important aspects of war. How do we behave when we are confronted by the violence and brutality of war. If that causes us to reflect on our humanity what shape does that reflection take. And in one of the primary characters Witt, we find someone who seems to have taken an understanding of life, and is able to perform what he believes is his duty, to fight and kill the opponents without destroying what he has come to, or has always believed. There is a great line in the movie, where a voice over says: "If I never meet you, let me feel the loss." The idea that we could gain such a wonderful perception of love, in the middle of a brutal war is fantastic. Maybe that is the lesson of the movie, that it is only through a genuine connection to those around us and the love and ideas that we share with them, that we can survive something like war. I went out and bought the other films by Terence Malick, and thoroughly enjoyed them as well.
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