Stop-Loss (2008)

Director:

Kimberly Peirce

Writers (WGA):

Mark Richard (written by) &
Kimberly Peirce (written by)

Release Date:

28 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army.

Plot Keywords:

Pistol | Cemetery | Kicked In The Face | Fugitive | Gash In The Face

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Ryan Phillippe	...	SSgt. Brandon King
Abbie Cornish	...	Michelle
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Tommy Burgess
Rob Brown	...	Isaac 'Eyeball' Butler
Channing Tatum	...	Steve Shriver
Victor Rasuk	...	Rico Rodriguez
Terry Quay	...	Al 'Preacher' Colson
Matthew Scott Wilcox	...	Harvey
Connett Brewer	...	Curtis (as Connett M. Brewer)
Timothy Olyphant	...	Lt. Col. Boot Miller
Josef Sommer	...	Senator Orton Worrell
Linda Emond	...	Ida King
Ciarán Hinds	...	Roy King
Mamie Gummer	...	Jeanie
Alex Frost	...	Shorty Shriver

Also Known As:

Untitled Kimberly Peirce Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic violence and pervasive language. (re-rating; originally also some strong sexuality)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Ireland:15A | USA:R (certificate #43629)

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The title refers to a provision in all military service contracts that says a service member can be involuntarily extended beyond their discharge (from active duty) date, and at times beyond their final discharge from service date, according to the needs of the service.

Goofs:

Factual errors: If a Staff Sgt. in the real army said "F@#$ The President" to a Lt. Colonel, as Sgt. King does in the beginning of the movie, he most certainly would have had different consequences than simply being thrown in the brig as a flight risk. Most likely, he would lose lost rank, became a private again, and be forced to do endless tedious detail tasks along with permanent KP.

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Brandon King: With the shortage of guys and no draft, they're shipping back soldiers who's supposed to be gettin' out.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2008-03-29)" (2008)

Wish It Could Have Been Better

Maybe the idea was to show the total hopelessness of the conflict--that it was not really a war but urban warfare, and that there is no way to win or to have a happy ending. But that's just an idea--it's not a movie.

I thought that the set-up was fine. But I am not sure the filmmakers knew where to go with it. Their take on the stop-loss policy is obvious, and it is a message that should be heard. But I think the film would have been more interesting if any character exhibited any real growth during the film. The vets were all depicted as basket cases--the most well-adjusted vet seemed to be the double-amputee--he told us why he would want to go back to Iraq and there was at least some productive purpose that would have been served by his return there.

Perhaps there are soldiers who don't mind being stop-lossed--who truly believe they are accomplishing something positive over there. It would have been refreshing to have a character like that--a non-basket case. It would have been good to hear arguments supporting the stop-loss program (if there are any).

The last 20-30 minutes of this film were baffling. The end of the film (not an ending, just an end) was very unsatisfying.

Ryan Philippe did a competent job, but rarely conveyed anything not apparent from the lines or situation. For example, you could see that a lot of his post-war angst was attributable to guilt. How that tied in with the ending is just a mystery to me.

I recall that a very similar military policy was explored by Joseph Heller in Catch-22. I think a comparison to that novel and film is more apt than comparing this to The Deer Hunter.

I wish this film could have been much better than it was.