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The Thin Red Line

The Thin Red Line

List Price: $34.98
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Heart of Darkness
Review: The Thin Red Line isn't exactly a war drama, though it features gut-wrenching, edge-of-your-seat combat sequences that easily rank with those in Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Stalingrad, Enemy at the Gates, and other recent WWII films of note. The Thin Red Line isn't exactly a character piece, either, though it includes some superb acting by the likes of Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, and Woody Harrelson, not to mention less well-known actors like Elias Koteas.

More than anything, The Thin Red Line is a slow, lyrical meditation on death (and life, of course) that uses the fighting for Guadalcanal as its starting point. This is a film about what men think and do when the superficial trappings of civilization are torn aside and life and death become very real and very immediate, no longer merely some abstractions for preachers and philosophers to ramble on about. This is a film about peering into--indeed, walking into--the heart of darkness.

There seems to be two basic types of war movie fans: those who appreciate the movies as movies, as storytelling, and those who mainly just want to see historically accurate battle sequences. If you fall into the latter camp, you'll find about one hour of The Thin Red Line to be gripping entertainment, while the rest will likely seem incoherent, rambling, and much too arty for its own good. If, though, you appreciate war films for their potential to get to the heart of some of the most vital, basic issues of life (and death), then you'll find a very powerful film here.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The Thin Red Line
Review: This movie seems to be purposely confusing. It has good action sequences but each one is followed by at least half an hour of senseless nature shots and absurd voice overs. It seems never to end, and if it had been cut down to an hour and a half it would have been a very good war movie. My advice, skip all the non-battle scenes.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Oh, What Might Have Been
Review: Were it not for the constant distraction and confusion of the flashback scenes, this could have rated as one of the best World War II movies of all time. These scenes distracted so much from the flow of the movie that it made it a struggle to make it to the end of the movie.

I agree totally with another reviewer who was impressed by the way the fear was portrayed in the soldiers. It is unlike any other movie I have seen in that aspect. I am assuming that the "flashbacks" were meant to emphasize the fear, but the method just didn't work.

Some careful editing, and this would be a 5 star movie. As it is, I can only justify giving it 3.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: not a movie for stupid people
Review: This is a good movie. Its from the soldiers heart and their minds duh. You stupid people dont know that so its ok. Yeah its not all guts and blood, but its real. And for the stupid that said Japanease troops didnt surrender, you need to read a few history books, cause they did surrender you , anyway people who didnt like this movie were to dumb to understand it, so if you have an iq over 10 watch it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best War Film Ever!!!
Review: Saw this in the theatre and had to buy it. A true masterpiece. This was the first war movie I have seen that didn't focus purely on the battle scenes and the destruction, but rather took a close look at the human element that is both behind war and that finds itself caught up in war. This is not the movie for kids who walk out of the theatre saying things like, "That was so cool when that guy's head was blown off!" If you are looking for a mindless action flick, go somewhere else and don't waste Terrence Malick's incredible talent. This movie is a philosophical exploration into what drives people to do horrible things to each other and what drives them to truly care for each other. It's a bird's-eye-view of the nature of man's capability for destruction, both of other men and of his surroundings. It delves into man's unwillingness to take responsibility for the effects of his actions on his surroundings, and how sometimes, when one man does try to do right by his fellow men, he can be persecuted for it. While this sounds pretty melancholy, this is only the subtext of the movie. The overwhelming message that this movie delivers, is that there may be a way out of this mess man has created, but that no one man can do it alone. The one thing that struck me is that it wasn't just a sterile historical portrayal of Guadalcanal, nor was it just about war, guns, valor, and blood, which is okay in its own right, but has been done many times over. An excellent example would be Saving Private Ryan, which I also own. This movie was different. It didn't show war in a vacuum, but rather included war, valor, intensity, nature, spirituality, love, hate, blood, guts, brotherhood, and, if I may say so, excellent battle scenes all in one gritty and moving performance. Enjoy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Too Bad
Review: Too bad so many people don't "get" Thin Red Line. A superior movie with a lot say about war and humanity. I loved the way the director weaves existentialism and art in an ethereal story of soldiers fighting to survive and exist within the confines & horrors of WW II. As important as Saving Private Ryan but filmed from a completely different perspective. SEE IT regardless of negative reviews found on this list.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not an action flick. Can you say "war drama"?
Review: This film is meant to show war. Yes the adrenaline but also the greyness that enters in during an extended campaign. But the movie doesn't cop to the emptiness it so doggedly portays. Because the charactors respond in this context so believablely and honest, some truly vivid scenes are possible.
I put this movie on par with "Empire of the Sun" or maybe even "Shcindler's List."

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Don't Watch it
Review: There is only two words I can use to describe this movie: NOTHING HAPPENS. They simply just walk around the whole time. The first hour is the platoon walking around doing absolutely nothing. Then there's a good battle seen. Then, they do nothing again. After that there is a short fight seen, and then more of nothing. I can't understand why people would like a movie where people walk around. The only reason I give this a two, is because the few fight scenes are good.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Holy freaking terrible!!
Review: Do not watch this trash! This is such a God aweful film that made me reach for the kitchen drawer and stick a butter knife in my eye to show how much agony it was to watch this film.

This film half the time has nothing going on in it. Trust me nothing happens in this movie. The film looks more like a really slow National Geographic show than a war movie.

Again do not waste your money on this junk. And for those of you who think that I didnt understand this movie, I did. It was just a worthless movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: oh please, george clooney is like nowhere to be seen!
Review: ok like first of all like i totally liked saving ryan's privates and it made me like feel like i was really at war and i was like ducking under my seat in the theater and screaming and stuff but then it ended and it was like so deep and stuff and the flag at the end made me cry so much my makeup got all messed up and then my friend said if i liked that i should go see the thin red line and i did but i like hated it you know and so i walked out like halfway through because of since it had like way too many weird scenes in it and not enough george clooney who is like the hottest actor ever you know so that is why i give the film five stars because like in the universe there are like hundreds of stars and five is so few that it is almost you know like saying the same thing as one star or no stars. If i could review George Clooney as an actor i'd give him like oh my god five hundred or something.


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