Rating: 
Summary: Terrance Malick is absolutely fantastic!
Review: Terrance Malick has proven why he is considered one of the greatest directors of all time. The movie has so much depth and character, that it takes multiple viewings to truly experience all that it has to offer. I only hope that Terrance does another movie in the near future. My hat is off to you Terrance.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent -- both realistic and thoughtful.
Review: Despite the absurd character portrayed by Nick Nolte, who could as easily have come out of the pages of Soviet propaganda about American officers as out of this movie, this is a very thoughtful, entertaining, absorbing film. Definitely much like actual war. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies I've ever seen!
Review: This movie is just as much about questions as answers...but as in life, the beauty is in the journey. The cinematography is stunning, the story: poetry.
Rating:
Summary: Not only the best film of '98, but one of the greatest ever
Review: Like the rest of history's truly Great Films - 2001, Raging Bull, Nashville et. al - this one got passed over come Oscar-time and was derided as pretentious by the usual parasites. Regardless, The Thin Red Line is a haunting, achingly-beautiful _masterpiece_, firmly establishing Terrence Malick in the pantheon of legendary directors.
Rating:
Summary: War Sucks. Great Film.
Review: A friend of mine, after seeing this movie, said that she didn't like the movie because it was depressing. War is depressing and dehumanizing. If there were more films like this one we might not try to glorify war. Beautifully filmed and thought provoking. Like the real thing and very close to the feel of Jones' book. Superb. If you like tripe...try Saving Private Ryan. If you like to think, this is the best war film made to date.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening experience
Review: The first time I saw this film I walked into the theater completely beat, suffering from a major headache, and not really looking forward to hours of explosions in Dobly Surround. Instead, I was coaxed by a fascinating, gorgeous movie out of my physical and mental state and into a sustained meditation on life and death -- no lecturing or highfallutin' abstract terminology, just a beguiling string of eloquent voices over the almost visceral visual style of a master filmmaker. Not to be watched on a little TV, by the way. One needs immersion in a film like this.
Rating:
Summary: The best war movie ever
Review: Obviously not for everyone, but for anyone who can fathom that the experience of war is not simple, not good guys bad guys, not black or white but a thousand shades of grey. What a beautiful movie, what an amazing concept.
Rating: 
Summary: VERY DISAPPOINTING. Do Not Waste Your Money.
Review: As mentioned, this movie has great cinematography and visual sequences, but the plot and focus of the movie is bewildering. The "dream sequences" really make you want to "skip forward", and there are a LOT OF THEM. Good acting for the most part, but it's not enough. Rent this movie before buying it! You will most likely change your mind after that.
Rating: 
Summary: I confess!!!! A little too deep for me
Review: After watching Thin Red Line me and my wife look at each other with blank stares and bewilderment. " Did you understand this movie??? " It was one of the most puzzling movies I've ever seen. Maybe that's why I had to watch again and follow it more closely. I figure the movie is about the personal wars each character is fighting. I found it at times difficult to follow because the story jumped from one scene to another. I still have mixed feelings about the movie. The acting and cinematography was very strong and stunning. The plot and pace was at times unbearable. Overall the movie goes into another dimesion. I don't think its fair that the artsy liberal intellects are denouncing the negetive reviewers as uncultured or unintelligent. I think as myself as cultured and intelligent. However there are some movies are put together in such as fashion that some people won't understand it and don't find appealing.
Rating:
Summary: not a film for everyone, but a film everyone should see.
Review: Artistically speaking, the film is a masterpiece, full of breathtakingly beautiful images and moments of genuine magic (love the bit in the jungle early on where a black native glances at the nervously advancing American troops, and then walks right past them as if they aren't there). Malick certainly succeeds in taking you to another time and place, and asserts himself throughout as one of the true visionaries of modern film. However...despite the film's achievements as art, dramatically speaking it is far from as a masterpiece, erring instead (especially in the last hour) toward being a contradictory, rambling, and repetitive mess. Off the top of my head now... How come John Travolta asks Nick Nolte to take the Japanese airfield, only for the troops to spend most of the film instead trying to take the hill, with the airfield only seen for about five seconds two hours later? And do we ever find out why that hill is so important? Because around 80% of Elias Koteas' scenes are concerned with his conflict with Nick Nolte, it's difficult to work out why his men are so cut up when he gets sent home. What happened to John Cusack? What happened to the letter that the dying Woody Harrelson begged his friends to send to his wife?They squabble over it for a few seconds and then it's forgotten. How come John Cusack's crew are behind a rock at least 20 feet in front of the Japanese bunker, and then in the very next shot seem to have somehow gotten on top of it? Creating a surreal work of art is one thing, flying in the face of all logic is another. Four flashbacks to Ben Chaplin's wife are affecting. Five make the point. Six is enough. Seven is pushing it. And what happened to the character after said wife dumped him?The last we see of him is him sitting in the grass moping. how many of you think this is a satisfactory conclusion to a major subplot? Questions, questions. I'm sure a longer version of the film would give us the answers, and indeed it's widely believed that Malick's first cut ran for over four hours. My hope is that one day he'll come out of hiding long enough to let us see it. Until then, buy the video or dvd, but be sure to check that it's letterboxed, because seeing this visual astonishment panned and scanned is rather like seeing the Mona Lisa on a postage stamp.
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