Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Abby Cornish, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Release Date: March 28, 2008
Running Time: 113 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Paramount Pictures

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Review by David DiMichele

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Isn’t it ironic to see a decorated soldier, recipient of a Bronze Star and Purple Heart and just back from his tour of duty in Iraq - on the run? He goes on the run in his own hometown in Texas, until eventually they're searching for him all the way from Texas to New York. Most of this time he tries to keep a low profile. He’s wearing his U.S. Army shirt and pants while being pursued by the country he just served. He finds out that he’s just one of many soldiers trying to flee and fight at the same time, all of them subject to a law that was passed by the president himself and labeled as “stop-loss.” This law translates meaning a soldier who has to go back to war, involuntarily, because there’s a shortage of American soldiers on the battle front.

Coming off a nine-year hiatus from directing, Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) tackles a tough subject - the war in Iraq and its effects – that left last year's Oscar hopefuls such as Rendition, In the Valley of Elah, and the criminally overlooked Lions for Lambs begging for customers at the box office. Her trick: to magnetize this type of movie to the younger generation, a generation that needs to see it more than any other. She teams up with MTV Films to create a movie with heart and emotion. She puts together a cast of hunks that should lead to box-office success: Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Stop-Loss isn’t just about war itself: the film tends to be more involved with people’s way of thinking on certain topics. Peirce pieces together snippets of war scenes set to classic “rock n’ roll” and contemporary music. What she doesn’t want is to overwhelm her audience with the war, but an opening scene containing full-fledged shooting is stunningly intense. She wants her message to come through without guns and bloodshed.

This doesn’t apply to the three Army soldiers who are physically wounded by war. Tumultuous events spew from every direction and leave the three of them drowning in their own troubles. It's a modern-day spin on the 1946 Best Picture winner, Best Years of Our Lives, when soldiers come home to deal with situations that are just as bad as war itself.

Life-long friends endure life-long struggles. The neighborhood they come from is the neighborhood that throws a parade in respect for their work they did in Iraq. It is more than loving: it’s grateful. It’s a slice of heaven after a ton of hell. This is the reason why they fight for America.

Sgt. Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) finds himself digging holes in his fiancé’s (Abbie Cornish) front yard in order to shelter himself from the world around him. PFC Tommy Burgess (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a weary drunk, who drinks to ease the pain of seeing his fellow soldiers dying in his arms. The glue that binds all of them together is Staff Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe), who comes home to loving parents and big dreams until they are shot down. The memory of leading his troops into an Iraqi alley that led to an ambush still plays out in his brain. He’s the decorated solider who’s told he has been “stop-lossed.” As he goes on the run he encounters thugs, bitter family members of deceased soldiers, a former solider who still possesses courage even though he’s been torn limb from limb due to a bomb, and another former solider who has been on the run with his family, barely surviving, for fourteen month due to the same “stop-loss” law.

Stop-Loss is based on a true story about Kimberly’s brother, who, like Phillippe’s character, enlisted to fight for America after the 9/11 attacks. It is a story that was destined to be made into a documentary. After Peirce did some research and found out how many soldiers actually were “stop-lossed” she decided to make a motion picture that’s above all true. And the trueness couldn’t be delivered to us without the help of some superb acting on the parts of Ryan Phillippe and, surprisingly, Channing Tatum.

Anti-war film, anti-Bush film, anti-government film, or pro-war film? You be the judge and call it how you see it. Stop-Loss shows the consequences of what can happen and what one person can lose if he continues to fight the law.

Film Rating: *** 1/2 out of ****

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