Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

jeffrasley Stop Loss has an important message for those disconnected from the US military: our servicemen are being asked to do more combat tours than ever before in the history of the US military. Since the end of the Draft after the Viet Nam War all combat operations are carried out by the limited number of volunteer GIs. Okay, they volunteered, but with the numbers in the Army, National Guard, Reserves, and Marines, they are being asked to do too much time in combat; hence the massive numbers suffering from PTSD, ballooning suicide numbers, spousal abuse, and other problems experienced by and caused by returning servicemen.Stop the senseless wars that should not be fought and are not worth the sacrifice of our young volunteers or our nation's resources. And, bring back the Draft so the whole nation feels the pain when we go to war. Stop Loss makes this case.

museumofdave I enjoy making up "double-bill" evening nights with films that match in some way--both versions of The Maltese Falcon, for instance, or two films about pianists. An evening spent watching both Stop-Loss and The Hurt Locker comparing their strengths and weakness was fascinating,comparing brilliant and committed performances from the two lead actors, Ryan Phillippe and Jeremy Remmer. The latter film seems to center on the kind of man who is addicted to war and does his job well, but Peirce's film shows a bright young man from Texas who experiences some brutal battle, has done his time, and then is called back, simply because the war is eating up the other volunteers. It is curious that what was once a strictly male director's province, i.e., war films, has been usurped by two women: both Peirce and Kathleen Bigelow delve deeply into the male experience of battle, the former also connecting with what the people back home are feeling and experiencing. Both films question the validity of war from different viewpoints, and while not luridly political, deliver some scathing commentary on its effects on the human mind; while Stop-Loss is no Paths of Glory, it is effective story-telling, perhaps enlightening viewers clueless about those who are shipped overseas more than once.

johnnyboyz Stop-Loss slots nicely into a canon of films populated by 'issue' pieces dealing with the war in the Middle East, or on Terror; a film looking at, as the following year's Rendition did with the detainment rights America seemingly has on terror suspects, the titular 'stop-loss' policy - a ruling forcing veterans back out to the Gulf front lines for more tours of duty against their wishes and against prior agreements with the government. It additionally comes to strike us as the sort of film designed to habituate your more younger adult viewers on the issue of war, warfare and the war in The Middle East; that wars and warfare carry with them side effects, that explosions and wartime hostilities carry with them a shrill price. Through what most would refer to as a process of trivialisation through that of the medium of computer games, and a general skirting around of certain issues, Stop-Loss feels designed to both unearth and bring to the forefront the backlog of hurt and bother that often arrives with what most of Stop-Loss' target audience may already perceive as a passive pursuit.Where the film somewhat flails on the front of the former, and despite feeling like an unabashed 'awareness' piece, it succeeds in bringing attention to the latter; an involving enough documentation of the fallouts of war. In another sense, it did its job on the political front; I was unaware of the stop loss policy, what it entailed and how people might go about dealing with it if in disagreement. The film opens with a sequence of warfare I didn't expect to be as effective as it was. We witness a squad of Iraqi-based American soldiers fighting enemy soldiers still loyal to the causes that desire Western involvement banished from the territories. It is a skirmish that only really kicks off after several of the troops have risen to the bait of an armed man in a car at a checkpoint, whom then promptly leads the gung-ho soldiers into an enclosed street and an ambush. Bullets begin to fly, rockets are propelled and people are hurt in a locale somewhat passingly resembling your bog-standard online multi-player game arena.For several men, it was the last happening of an arduous tour; several soldiers, as well as platoon leader Brandon King (Phillippe) and Channing Tatum's Steve Shriver, both of whom will later come to to contribute to the text more greatly, depart following the tour's termination and head to their home states. King's and Striver's is Texas. Once home, their surroundings are constructed as a somewhat sickly place of pro-war garb and patriotic singing; a place in which all the women are overtly photogenic and the young boys of the town idolise their newly arrived war heroes - director Kimberly Peirce even finds room for a composition of the American flag fluttering limply in the breeze. Suffice to say, the locals are over the moon to have their boys back; the post-tour celebratory party following an opening battle going along way to summarise the general outlook on the war as a whole: we're winning, we're taking heavy losses and a lot of Arabs local to the territories are dying for not an awful lot, but we're winning.The homecoming is sweet on the surface to these people, and on the surface alone; odd behavioural patterns beginning to plague that of what Striver does thus upsetting his fiancé Michelle (Cornish) and forcing King into getting involved, the foul smell of post-traumatic stress disorder filling the air and filling the grounds of Striver's front lawn when the digging of fox holes in the dead of night as well as the persistent speaking to himself plays out. For King, problems rear up when he is a victim of that aforementioned stop-loss policy; a forcing of him back to the hotbeds of The Middle East against his wishes - an order devilishly delivered to him by a Lieutenant colonel played by Timothy Olyphant, whom always looks like he's having fun playing that seedy guy you're supposed to dislike but isn't necessarily the villain, and something that sees King, in his own words, "screwed by the system".King takes it upon himself to just leave; a fugitive out on the road with that of Michelle since, y'know, she's prettier and will make for better company than that of his parents. Where the film goes is into the realms of where films such as these, ranging from Taxi Driver to Borne on the Fourth of July, often go; that is to say, a physical journeying that will open the lead's eyes to a "real" America of stuff they'd previously been somewhat oblivious to. Their cross-country travelling on this occasion sees them journey to Washington D.C., so as to try and garner some help from a senator whom was as kind as you like when King's tour was still fresh in the memory, but then seems totally disinterested. It plods and it waves proverbial flags, but it does the job; along the way, we anticipate King and Michelle's romance - her patching up of his wounds following a brawl an obligatory 'coming-together' moment of a sensual and physical sort. Peirce finds room to rear up the shocking nature of your more decrepit veterans: an excursion to a military hospital dealing with those whom lost limbs and such arriving as further issue-baiting which clunks into proceedings rather than slots neatly. Stop-Loss is not without merit, and surprised me in how far is was willing to go in its politics; it's tough to begrudge the film, and its air of ambiguity as to whether it's a film glorifying the running from's one duty or the standing tall for what one believes in is good value, but I suspect the director has a better film up her sleeve and as far as the War on Terror canon goes, you could do a lot better yourself.

Enchorde Recap: After two tours in Iraq Staff Sergeant Brandon King is finally coming home and is leaving the army. With he has his friends that he served with, men that became as close as brothers, equally eager to quit fighting, equally happy to finally be close to dear ones. But the boys may be home, but they certainly haven't left the war behind. It is with them constantly, and each of them struggles with in their own way. They abuse drugs and alcohol and get into fights. It tear every relationship apart. Their wives and girlfriends can't handle them, the brotherhood between them comes under extreme pressure. So when King finds out that the army is about to Stop-Loss him, which means it won't let him quit and forcefully send him back to Iraq, Brandon feels betrayed. The army and government that he fought for, risked his life for, broke their deal. And he can't handle anymore death, more friends dying. He goes AWOL in a race for Washington, to speak with a senator, but he soon finds out that as fugitive, the list of friends quickly grows thin.Comments: A strong movie about courage and duty, and doing the honorable thing. About how a government that has sent thousands of soldiers to fight a war on foreign soil, can turn their back on the same men once they returned home. How deals are broken, trust betrayed and the despair these men that is forced to rejoin can feel.It is a strong movie about how it feels to return home with these horrible memories (at best) and not being able to handle them, the strain it puts on these individuals and their relationships.Well, I have not been in any war, neither am I American, so the real issues might not be mine to debate, even if I do have a clear opinion about it. However, so does it seem this movie has. And it is very good at relaying it.Ryan Philippe, Channing Tatum and Abbie Cornish gives very strong performances along with the rest of a strong cast. Their acting is reason enough to watch this movie, a real impressive effort.It might be so that some of the events is not entirely realistic, however to dismiss the movie or the emotions that are portrayed in them because of that is foolish. It portrays a part of a war that both individuals and governments that send their soldiers to war need to handle. Therefore I think this movie gives an important statement in that debate.In the end, just focusing on the movie, it was a really good movie. Well acted with a real good story that kept my interest without problem. A drama with some real emotion and close to the thriller genre. Well worth watching! 7+/10