Rating: 
Summary: THE BIG BAD MOVIE
Review: Even if this movie came out before Saving Private Ryan, it still wouldn't have done well, for the following reasons: First off, you can't relate with the characters. If you can't do that, you can't tell who's who. In this movie, when a guy got shot, I didn't care--why, I didn't even know his name. So there is bad character development. Secondly, this movie has too much intellectualism. All these flashback scenes showing a guy dancing with his wife and all these voice-overs. If this movie was trying to show the horrors of war, then it failed. There's little or no graphic violence, nothing to make war seem really harrowing. Next off, the storyline just doesn't go anywhere. These guys just romp around the island. If they don't know what THEY'RE doing, then I don't know what I'M doing watching this movie. Do yourself a favor and use the three hours of your life you'd be spending on this "war" movie somewhere else.
Rating: 
Summary: Great flick, just a tad bit too long
Review: This movie would be a perfect movie if it was about 40 minutes shorter. It gets a little bit too long-winded in the portrayal of the soldiers hitting the Japanese base in the jungle, and in the story about the soldier whose fiance ditches him while he's at war. If they'd just focused on Private Whitt a little more, I think it would be a perfect movie. To me, a perfect movie (five stars) is one that you a: never get bored while watching, and b: always find something new. This movie fails to achieve perfection due to part a.
Rating: 
Summary: As a war film buff...
Review: ...I would say that this is easily the best WWII film ever made...and that's saying a lot considering the competition. Poetic storytelling, impressive battles, wonderful cinematography and great acting compliment this masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: The Thin Red Cure For Insomnia
Review: I saw this movie in the movie theatre. It was the bigest letdown of all time. I was extremely tempted to walk out of the theatre (something I have not done since Texas Chainsaw massacre III in the early 1990's), and found myself falling asleep several times during this boring picture. It has several big name stars (like George Clooney, John Travolta) who have VERY MINOR roles. Clooney is only in the LAST TWO MINUTES OF THE FILM.
From a historical perspective, the film does not show the large scale of the battles on Guadacanal, nor does it show true Japanese tactics (the Japanese soldiers cower and surrender at the first sign of danger-something they NEVER DID EVER). The Japanese soldiers are portrayed as cowaring whimps, which is in contridiction to everything which I have read about them. Do yourself a favor, skip this one and watch Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, or Enemy at the Gates. Or, better yet, read a good war book, like Grandfather's Tale: the Tale of a German Sniper by Erenberger.
Rating:
Summary: War movie or National Geographic Special?
Review: One of the biggest movie dissapointments I have ever seen. Long, boring and stupid. Whats with all the alligators, natives, animals, bugs, etc? When I see a war movie I want some blood and guts. This stuff bored me into slumber. Especially disapointing since so many great actors are in the movie with a great director.I hate the voice over narration. Get Saving Private Ryan instead. This film has no likeable characters whatsoever. I am amazed so many critics like it. This reminds me of a boring National Geographic special with all the wildlife scenes. Also hate the flashback scenes. Avoid at all costs. Also way,way way too long
Rating:
Summary: Malick's Line Is Entertaining Sermon on War
Review: I imagine many viewers who saw Thin Red Line in the theatre were squirming in their seats as if they were sitting in a pew listening to a tiring Sunday sermon. This is because Terence Malick's 1999 Thin Red Line is far more than a conventional war movie. Although it does contain some conventional elements, it pushes beyond them to explore human emotions regularly associated with war such as fear, loneliness, and resignation to death and dying as well as philosophical questions about why countries go to war with each other. For those who are seriously interested in warfare and its effects on combatants, this film offers a great deal of insight. At the beginning of the movie, Pvt. Witt (James Caviezel) is absent without leave from C-for-Charlie Company on a Pacific island. In the next scene, he is in the brig aboard a troop ship carrying the company to reinforce U.S. Marines stationed on Guadalcanal. While in the brig, Witt is visited by Sgt. Welsh (Sean Penn) who assigns him to a disciplinary unit where he will serve as a stretcher barrier in the upcoming battle. Welsh scolds him, saying "You'll never be a soldier in this man's army." Witt replies, "I can take anything you can dish out. I'm twice the man you are." Before the end of the film, the viewer finds out whether Welsh is right or wrong in his assessment of Witt. After an uneventful beach landing, C-for-Charlie Company marches inland to join other troops in an assault on the Japanese army, which has dug in along the crest of a steep, grass-covered hill that dominates the surrounding jungle. In one of the most hair-raising, extended action sequences between infantry ever recorded on film, the soldiers of C-for-Charlie are ordered to make a frontal assault on the position following an ineffective artillery barrage. They are ordered to the attack by a Lt. Col. Tall, who is portrayed in an Oscar-worthy performance by Nick Nolte. Nolte's performance as Tall anchors the major battle sequence in the film, and is so mesmerizing and memorable that it will remain carved in the viewer's memory long after the movie is over. I've never forgiven the Academy for failing to give Nolte a nomination, much less an Oscar, for his performance. After an entire squad is wiped out in the first wave of attack, Capt. Staros (Elias Koteas) refuses to continue the frontal assault on the ridge, suggesting instead a flanking move through the jungle on the Japanese position. From his position directing the attack in the rear, Tall screams into the radio phone for Staros to resume the attack to no avail. When Staros still won't budge, Tall comes to the front line to personally direct the assault. What follows shortly afterward in the script is a superbly choreographed combat scene comparable to any that has come before it in the movies. To the survivors of the first attack who have reformed under the protection of a ledge, Tall says, "That strongpoint up there, somewhere around those rocks, is the key to this ridge....If we can reduce that bunker tomorrow, I think we can take this ridge." To execute his plan, Tall hand picks a special team that includes Capt. John Gaff (John Cusack), Pvt. Bell (Ben Chaplin), Pfc. Doll (Dash Mihok), and Witt (Caviezel). In the morning the team departs. As it advances cautiously through the shoulder-high grass, the camera shifts to the birds-eye view from the enemy bunker. At first, the viewer does not see the enemy but sees only evidence of its presence in the form of spent shell casings scattered over the rocks in front of the machine guns emplacements. As the team moves into position taking cover behind large rocks, one American soldier is struck down by enemy fire. In the ensuing action, the first assault is broken up by enemy fire and the team is forced to fall back to the cover of the rocks. At that point, Japanese infantryman charge the position repeatedly in groups of twos and threes. The fight boils down to a few close combat weapons including grenades, rifles, pistols, and even a shotgun. Eventually Gaff's team is able to get close enough to throw grenades into the enemy bunker and the position is captured, which makes it possible for the Americans to clear the Japanese from the ridge. The most glaring flaw in the film, which is truly unforgivable, is the portrayal of captured Japanese soldiers. Every history that I have read of Guadalcanal indicates that the Japanese would not allow themselves to be taken alive and either fought to the death or committed suicide rather than be taken alive. Unfortunately for Malick and the cast and crew of the film, Thin Red Line was released the same year as Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. At the time, reviewers forced comparisons between the two movies to the detriment of both films. From the standpoints of cinematography and plot, Thin Red Line shares much more in common with Oliver Stone's 1986 Platoon. The similarities can be found in camera shots of the triple-canopy jungle, mutilated American soldiers left behind by the enemy, and the chase scenes toward the end of both films where Private Witt of Thin Red Line and Sergeant Elias of Platoon single-handedly harass the advancing enemy. Solid performances in Thin Red Line are given by Caviezel, Koteas, Nolte, and Penn. Cusack is miscast as Capt. Gaff, who Col. Tall eventually taps to replace Capt. Staros. Furthermore, the superfluous cameos by actors John Travolta as Brig. Gen. Quintard and George Clooney as Capt. Bosche are weak and soon forgotten. The Thin Red Line received six academy award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Film Editing. After you see the movie, read the book, or vice-versa.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best films of the 90s
Review: Every single frame of this movie is a work of art. Put together, and added to a story which is really a complex set of philosophical reflections on war, life and death, this is just sublime. Elegiac, surreal, beautiful, horrifying and brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: MAKES YOU THINK
Review: This movie is good in the fact that it makes you think. It answers questions that we usually don't think about. Questions such as: How does a person feel when they are taking a life? Is a C.O. willing to risk everything and everybody to win? Is every soldier a TO-THE-DEATH soldier? It is realistic in that it shows that everybody gets scared some time or the other.
Rating:
Summary: LA MEJOR PELICULA QUE HE VISTO
Review: Asi de fàcil. Despuès de saber que los premios OSCARS le dieron 7 nominaciones pero al final no le otorgaron ni una, creo que los Oscars no son un buen paràmetro cinemàtogràfico. Es realmente increible lo que hicieron con esta pelìcula. Tiene la mejor fotografìa y direcciòn que haya visto. Ademàs Jim Caviezel y Sean Penn debieron haber sido nominados. Pueden encontrar en esta pelìcula batallas, paisajes, pensamientos filosòficos, poesìa, llegar hasta el interior de cada soldado que tiene una batalla personal entre el deber y el miedo, natural en todo ser humano. Nunca habìa oido de Terrence Malick antes, pero realmente me quedè asombrado con lo que fue capaz de hacer. Solo un idiota puede decir que Saving Private Ryan es mejor que esta pelìcula. Private Ryan no es nada màs que una pelìcula de acciòn, pero no contiene los condimentos restantes que citè al principio. Me da gusto revisar los comentarios de la gente en esta pàgina, la mayorìa le dan 5 estrellas. Es que se la merece. Es la mejor pelìcula de guerra jamàs hecha. Tambièn resalto las actuaciones de Ben Chaplin, Elias Koteas y Nick Nolte. La he visto como 4 veces y cada vez me gusta màs. Una vez màs no entiendo como no fue nominado Jim Caviezel, pero bueno todos sabemos que la Academia no es mas que un grupo de gente que responde aintereses comerciales, en todo caso los amantes del buen cine nunca vamos a olvidar a esta pelìcula ni la canallada que hicieron los premios Oscars al nominarla a 7 premios y no darle ni uno.
Rating:
Summary: How a modern day WWII film should be made
Review: After an absence of god know's how long Terrence Malick returns with a cracker. IMO The Thin Red Line is the best WWII film made and that includes Saving Private Ryan (for my reasons see my review of SPR also here on Amazon). Malick's ponderous film is a masterpiece from start to finish. Starting with scenes of Gaudalcanal's peaceful indiginous population showing how man can be Malick soon takes us on an emotional tour de force of the horrors of war cleverly built up through the attack on a hilltop japanese bunker. Tension mounts quickly as you can imagine yourself there and how scared the soldiers must be as they're picked off by snipers. What this film lacks in terms of Saving Private Ryans landing sequences, gore and shock value it makes up for in emotion and human spirit. Above all this is a film about the triumph of humanity over savagery - a theme captured in the character of played by Private Witt. The film is packed with marvellous performances, in particular that of Nick Nolte as the general looked over for promotion and who uses his men heartlessly as pawns to erase that painful memory. The DVD package itself is also excellent with extra features. This is a must buy.
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