Reviewed by Max Foizey.

Release Date: March 28, 2008
Directed By: Kimberly Peirce
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Rating: R

I walked into this film with high hopes, because this is the follow up to director Kimberly Pierce's excellent, harrowing film "Boys Don't Cry." I was curious if her war film was going to choose sides and have a liberal or conservative point of view. I read an interview with Pierce who denied any agenda, saying it was only meant to be "pro-soldier."

That's bullocks. How anyone can say this is not an anti-war movie is beyond me. It's 100% anti-war. Specifically the Iraq war, and President Bush.

The story centers around the controversial policy called "Stop-Loss," which you'll remember John Kerry called a 'back door draft' in 2004. At times the film gets dangerously close to implying all would be well in times of war if we only got rid of "Stop-Loss."

I'm not saying the policy of Stop-Loss does not deserve closer examination, but this film is not that proper examination. This movie is over the top and melodramatic. Pierce has crafted a grating, angry mess.

Ryan Phillipe stars as decorated war vet Sergeant Brandon King, who plans on resuming his civilian life upon returning home to Texas after his tour in Iraq. When the army informs him he must return to Iraq for another tour, ("You got Stop-Loss'd!") he decides to go AWOL instead.

Philipe has a convincing Texas accent, but his performance cannot help the clumsy, ham-handed dialogue. It feels like it was written by high schoolers who just want to whine "War is wrong!"

Channing Tatum plays soldier Steve Shriver like he's in a Lifetime made-for-cable movie, and dead-behind-the-eyes Abbie Cornish plays his squeeze Michelle like she's on a steady morphine drip. I haven't been this unimpressed with a cast since "Step Up 2 the Streets."

This goes for most everyone except the exceptional young actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's a shame the film didn't focus more on his character. I have no doubt Levitt would have made me care about his plight.

I know military families; I know how proud they are to serve. We don't see any of those people represented in this movie. At one point a woman calls off her engagement to a soldier because he must go back to Iraq and she doesn't want to wait to get married. How selfish is that? What about those proud army wives? What about the females themselves serving right now? It's just a terribly one-sided story being told.

If you're going to make an argument against war or against a war-time policy, you're not doing yourself any favors if you don't do it intelligently. "Stop-Loss" fails to encourage real debate about war time issues, and settles for whining about them instead.

In addition to hosting 'Max on Movies' every Saturday at 2pm on 97.1 FM Talk, Max appears weekly on the Dave Glover Show Fridays at 5pm. A member of the Saint Louis Gateway Film Critics Association, Max has appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows, and written about film for various print and online media. If you'd like to see better films about the effects war has on soldiers, check out "Jarhead," and "The Deer Hunter." E-mail Max at mfoizey@stl.emmis.com