Rating: 
Summary: The year's most disappointing film
Review: Malick's return to the screen should have been with some other project... ANY other project. Filled with beautiful images, this film offers very little else. With a staggering amount of historical and continuity errors, not to mention military decisions that would never have been seen on a WW2 battlefield, this film just doesn't stand up to the obvious "Saving Private Ryan" comparisons. I was just unmoved by the characters and did not care what happened to them. In the end, it's a movie about nothing, and that's sad because it does a great injustice to the veterans of the Pacific war. If you want a much better film about this battle, see "Guadalcanal Diary"
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Film of 1998
Review: Briefly, I've written several reviews of this film, for several web sites and everyone here that has said positive things about it have captured the thoughts and feelings I feel towards this movie. So, it would be a little redundant for me to review it again, with all of the great things said about it. But, I will say just this, Terrence Malick's comeback with "The Thin Red Line" is grand and sweeping. His style is etched from his two previous films and the period he made them in. If you want to watch a film by one of the great directors of our time, this is it. It's a not-so-standard war film, which I'm sure is pretty obvious to anyone reading the comments on this web page. And as such, Malick takes the freedom to interpret James Jones' book openly with broad strokes and he does so magnificently. "The Thin Red Line" was the best film of 1998.
Rating:
Summary: The worst movie EVER!!!!!!!!!!
Review: If you are having trouble sleeping, and are tired of using Meryl Streep as an insomnia cure, just watch this movie. My father went to see it in the theater and we walked out on it before it was over. One of my friends told me it ended before it started. IT STUNK!!!!!!!! I don't know how it got nominations for any awards, but you know how weird those people in Hollywood are.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant.
Review: Beautiful, engaging, intelligent movie. I'm bored by things blowing up. I loved it as a kid, I snooze through it now. I want something with actual meaning and content when I go to the movies. This movie has it. Many will not catch the existential themes that float in and out of this beautiful piece of art. So be it. They can put down one-star and move on to the next Schwarzenager movie. Whether it was ultra-realistic or not the movie (and honestly I have no clue) portrays wonderfully feelings of alienation and humanity in the face of the horror and inhumanity of war. I'm ok with characters that aren't cardboard cutouts of type X, or that don't make me feel good. It's too bad no one else is or we might have more great movies like this. I eagerly await another chance to watch this film and am saddened that I won't get another chance to see it on big screen (not only is it deep, it's beautiful).
Rating: 
Summary: The thin red line...between sanity and immorality.
Review: This movie is deeply moving, for although i have never been in war, the movie alone makes me feel and realize just how horrifying war is. The scenes that left the deepest impression on me is those in the village, where the American soldiers have just won a battle against the Japanese. In their own relief of having survived the battle, the soldiers lost their sanity momentarily and went on a killing spree - even when the Japs have obviously surrendered themselves. Of course, I am in no position to judge their behaviour, given their circumstances. Nevertheless, this is one picture starring several actors who have done more than their own share to make it a war classic. If only the movie didn't drag at times, I would not have hesitate to give it 5 stars. (The soundtrack is just as superb, simply breath-taking.)
Rating:
Summary: Great war flick
Review: Fantastic cinemetography and awesome action scene made this quite an interesting and well directed war film. The part where they invade the camp is incredibly realistic. I also thought it captured the soldiers emotions extremely well.
Rating:
Summary: Awful, simply awful
Review: Having never written a review, I feel compelled to add my "2 cents" after renting the TRL yesterday. It was collosally slow. Sure, it is a "deep" movie, but it is so confusing and disjointed that it looses all but the most attentive. This movie was a C grade director's attempt to be profound. Instead, it was slow. I must admit, I had to fast forward through the slow parts, and I actaully spent 45 minutes seeing the movie from start to end. I missed nothing of the plot, and the beautiful visuals looked good also on fastforward. Not a movie worth renting.
Rating:
Summary: completely different from "Ryan". Uncomparable
Review: It is extremely difficult to even try to compare this film with "Saving Pvt. Ryan" because they are two equally awesome, but completely different films. In my opinion "Ryan" was not an anti-war film, because it showed the heroism and valor that a small amount of men have showed in war. "The Thin Red Line" however shows the men who, rather than trying to be heroic, just want to go home. I could only identify with one character in "Ryan" and that was the new recruit who hadn't seen action before. In Malick's film however I pretty much identified with every character there. They were all tired, scared, and homesick. Take Elias Koteas' character for instance, when he is discharged, he doesn't fight it and say "these men are my family", he says "I think of you boys as my sons, but I'm happy to be going home". That is what war is, I found "Ryan" to be fairly unbeleivable in that aspect. He woouldn't have stayed there with his peers, he would have left at the first chance he got. You could say that he was "heroic" or "valiant" but these phrases are all completely lost when the battle scene begins and he's seen curled up in a ball crying. In my opinion "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line" are both war film masterpieces. One shows the bravery so rarely presented in battle, the other shows the other 98% of the troops who refuse to be robotic killing machines.
Rating: 
Summary: Heavy going .......
Review: Don't go into this movie expecting another Saving Pvt Ryan ..... the two are worlds apart..... This movie is more of an attempt to get inside the soldiers heads as they invade and fight their way across Guatal Canal (sp).. I found myself squirming a lot during this movie ..... it's a good idea but - the movie seems to labour the point a lot. In some ways the movie reminded me of Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, i.e. the complete mania of war.... Other times, I felt I was watching Hamburger Hill or The Green Berets..... Nick Nolte does a great job of the Company Commander on his own private crusade..... Sean Penn is kind of a wishy washy character but he delivers a good performance..... My thoughts ? When you are absolutley out of options at the video store - check this one out. But, get lots of beer and pizza and take the phone off the hook..... your in for a long night.
Rating:
Summary: A Disaster
Review: When I went to the theaters to watch this movie. I invited my grandma who is a big fan of war movies and I also invited my two cousins. After seing Saving Private Ryan, I was expecting a film alot like it or even better. When the film started I almost fell asleep in the theater. Through the whole movie, my cousin wispered to me "This movie S***S!" I just keeped my mouth shut continued watching it. The plot was very dull and boring. I was begging for the movie to be over. The only thing that cought my attention was the battles scenes. By the time the movie was over. It was a big dissapointment, what a disaster for 20th-Century Fox. My folks reaction was even worse than mine! They said it was a joke. This movie is like a cartoon compared to Saving Private Ryan. This movie is so bad it is not even worth renting it on video. I do not recommend this at all!
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