Stop-Loss 03/29/08

Stop-Loss is about the controversial military loophole that keeps soldiers in the army after their tour of duty has been fulfilled. A soldier played by Ryan Phillipe has just gotten back from Iraq to his small All-American Texas town. He is given a bronze star and a purple heart. People call him a hero. Then he refuses to comply with the unfair ruling of his superior officers. Haunted by his tour in Iraq he refuses to bend to the loophole. He is threatened with felony convictions and becomes a fugitive. Certainly this is not the way to treat war heroes. This movie will rattle your soul and convince you of the subjects injustice. To that particular purpose it succeeds. But otherwise for as many good performances and scenes in this movie, there are a couple that fall flat, and it contains a melodramatic ending that almost kills it.

Kimberly Pierce, the director of Boys Don't Cry, another movie set in poor and lonely Texas, has not made a film in years. And it shows just a little bit. Her sincerity is unquestionable but there are some choices she made that are simply wrong. I usually don't bash actors, but I wonder how Ryan Phillippe is becoming the go-to-guy for a war veteran (His last movie was Flags of Our Fathers). He does a good job most of the time, but there's just a couple scenes too many where his voice quivers and his lips tremble and he seems like he's about to cry. It makes more sense for him to be mad. The scene where he contradicts his superior officer and says "Fuck the President," is great. There needed to be more scenes like that. 
Pierce is also hit and miss with the post combat syndrome of these soldiers. It makes sense when one soldier gets completely wasted, thinks he's in Iraq, and starts digging a trench to sleep in. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance is certainly powerful and compelling. (Gordon-Levitt is quietly putting together a string of small good movies like last year's "The Lookout" and this one. I'm quietly starting to pay attention.) Other scenes though, like when Phillipe goes psycho on a bunch of street thugs ring false. The delusion goes on for too long, besides Ryan is supposed to be the sensible one. None of this compares though to the biggest miscalculation of the movie. And that is the WWF style fight scene that takes place in a graveyard at the movie's end. A soldier's funeral is supposed to be serious stuff right. And these characters obviously take it seriously. Why on Earth did Director Pierce choose to stage a completely unrealistic and exploitative fight? And then after that, have the characters start crying again. 
These are my reservations about the film. But I still recommend it because for every bad scene there are three good ones. The part in Iraq, the military hospital, the medals ceremony, the Texan society, and especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt's doomed veteran are all worthy of praise. I wonder if it will take Kimberly Pierce another ten years to make her next movie. I hope its sooner.