Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

I know nothing about this, but I remember when they started casting, and it seemed like that was about three weeks ago. And now it’s already screening? Wow. And now thanks to BoboVision, we’ve got an idea of what it is.

Hey Moriarty,

Bobo_Vision here. Tonight I attended a screening of a movie called "Stop Loss" starring Ryan Phillippe, Joseph Gordon Leavitt (JGL). The synopsis we were given is that the movie is about a US soldier who returns from the war, and after settling back into home life in America, he is forced to go back to Iraq against his will.

The movie opens in Iraq where the squadron led by Phillippe is guarding a checkpoint. What starts out with some young soldiers kidding around becomes abruptly tense when a car pulls up full of Iraqi women. With guns drawn, the US soldiers order them to stop, not knowing if they're carrying, or if they're sitting on bombs. It turns out they're a decoy, and a second car drives past with guns blazing. The US soldiers take chase, firing at the vehicle with a gun turret and are led straight into an ambush.

These opening scenes are amazing and remind me of "BlackHawk Down" where you are put right in the middle of the combat and are wholly engaged. Some US soldiers bite it, but Phillippe and his buddies make it, and return home to Buttfuck, USA in the heart of Texas. The movie abruptly shifts gears at this point and we are put in the midst of some good ol' Texas boys as they drink beers, shoot up wedding gifts and bottles for target practice, and eat home-killed rattlesnake for dinner.

JGL's character seems to be the most affected by the war as he takes up drinking and slowly becomes unhinged. He is one of the best things in the movie, but his role is small and supporting, unfortunately. Phillipe's other buddy, Steve, beats up his fiancee and digs a foxhole in his front yard when drunk, but is still a pro-war meathead. As for Phillippe himself, he says he's done with the war and is looking forward to life back home, but all things considered, he's pretty happy-go-lucky. That is until he finds out he's been stop-lossed, which means he's being sent back to Iraq despite completing his tour. Phillippe isn't happy about this, and tells his senior that George Bush can fuck himself, which causes him to be sent to the
stockade. On the way, he assaults 2 guards and goes A.W.O.L. The movie shifts gears once again, and Phillippe goes on a road-trip with Steve's fiancee to meet a Senator in D.C. hoping to rectify his dillemma.

I have a few problems with this movie. First, the tone of the movie never felt right. Scenes which were supposed to be moving never moved me, and most fell flat. Part of this is due to the weakness of the lead performance by Phillippe. I may be biased because I've never really liked him as an actor, but he just doesn't deliver. He has some flashbacks and a scene where he goes a little postal, but this performance isn't consistent, and in other scenes he's jocular and peppy. So the emotion I should feel for a supposedly shell-shocked soldier who is being forced to go back to war against his will is never completely driven home. This movie tries to do things which have been done by other post-traumatic war movies like "Deer Hunter" and "Born On the Fourth of July", but falls short.

For example, Phillippe visits the parents of a soldier who was killed during the ambush to tell them how he died, but its not as good as the scene from "4th of July" where Cruise tells those parents that he killed their son. There's a scene where Phillippe visits a buddy at a VA hospital, and the buddy briefly describes the Hospital as a 'House of Horrors' when they're out in the courtyard, but Phillippe never experiences it firsthand. There is also a scene where Phillippe is given the microphone to speak at their town's 'Welcome Home' celebration, and starts rambling about how the smell of onions reminds him of home, and his friend, Steve, rescues him from his awkward expatiation by interjecting, "And we killed lots of Iraqis, and we're gonna win the war!", to the eruption of cheers.

This isn't a bad movie. In fact, the audience I saw the movie with really like it from what I heard. But it was just alright for me, which was disappointing in a way, because I wanted to really like it. i think the overall message of the movie is important, and we haven't seen too many movies about the Iraq war. I just felt like the movie had the potential to be much better, but misstepped in its execution. Its possible they could fix the tone by cutting the movie differently since this was an early rough cut, and they should change the title because it screams "Straight-to-video" or "HBO movie" title. Unfortunately, they would have to recast the lead and reshoot all the scenes without Phillippe for me to like this movie, but maybe thats just me. If they improve the other two factors, this movie could go from being kinda alright, to decent.

Bobo_Vision