Stop-Loss Review

I wanted to see this movie because of the actors in it at first, but soon the storyline interested me as well.

I was a little afraid that this movie would be a Bush-bashing, anti-war, Liberal fest, and I wasn't sure if I could handle that. I don't like going to the theater to see a bunch of propaganda telling me our country's going to the dogs and our president's a moron and all of that, because I don't believe it.

The story is very interesting, and I was immediately drawn to the two main characters, Steve and Brandon. I liked that they'd been friends since childhood and that they were loyal and brave.

I thought this movie was very realistic. Many movies portray people as much too brave or honorable or nice, and you're left with a sense of, "Could anyone really be that great?"
This movie had flawed characters. Brandon (Ryan Phillippe) gets angry that he's been stop-lossed, so he beats two men up and runs away. He battles with doing the right thing and doing what he wants the whole movie. I thought this was realistic. Though I wasn't very happy with his character for doing it, I thought it was probably how a lot of soldiers would react when they found out they'd have to go back.

I also thought Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was a realistic character. He gets into a lot of trouble getting drunk, and on top of that his wife kicks him out. In his despair, his absolute low point, he throws a beer bottle through a jewelry store window. This is after he's been warned to clean up his act. A few days after being kicked out of the army, he commits suicide. The army and his wife were his two reasons to live, and he had neither. I thought that this was pretty realistic. He's very perturbed by what he did and saw in Iraq, so he acts out. Then he realizes he's lost everything he lived for, and sees no point in living.

Though the movie did have a little bit of anti-current administration stuff, it was subtle, and not necessarily propaganda as much as only one side of the story. The screen read that some 88,000 soldiers were stop-lossed in 2007, but it didn't say how many willingly reenlisted. This would have been helpful to give a clearer picture on the whole situation.

All in all, however, I thought that this movie had a good cast who played realistic characters, I thought it was very well made, and I thought it left an impact.