Film Reviews

Stop-Loss

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Channing Tatum
• Details: US / 113mins (15A).

After 150 missions, Sgt. Brandon King (Phillippe), whose last tour of Iraq saw some of his platoon wiped out, has seen enough bloodshed. He returns home to Texas with corp. friends - gung-ho Steve (Tatum) and unhinged Tommy (Gordon-Levitt) - with hopes of settling into civilian life. The army, however, have other plans - they have 'Stop-Lossed' his contract, which means they can send him back to Iraq. Brandon goes AWOL with Tatum's fiancee, Michelle (Cornish), hoping to make Washington where he has the sympathetic ear of a Senator before the authorities catch up. After one of the best openings to a war movie in recent history, Stop-Loss peaks about ten minutes in and doesn't recover. Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry) writes and directs this anti-war drama that sees most of the action take place Stateside, rather than the nitty-gritty streets of Baghdad. Peirce throws every argument in her cannon at the screen; although we're with Phillippe and his point of view (war is hell but the home front is no comfy sofa either), Tatum's and Gordon-Levitt's 'the army is family to me, it's all I know' is just as convincing. She also second-guesses the audience with an unexpected ending that is left open to debate. However, sloppy dialogue lets the side down, while uncalled-for cuts to camcorder shots halt the pacing. Peirce also fails to see that Gordon-Levitt's Tommy is easily the most interesting character on show, but the film passes him by in favour of Phillippe. Still waiting on the definitive Iraq film, then..

Review by Gavin Burke