Fair and by the Numbers

Rating: 6/10 (31 January 2009)

Stop-Loss involves some decent acting from Ryan Phillippe and his supporting cohorts. The movie plays it safe for the most part, not offering much new besides the subject material. I liked how the main character grappled with the Stop Loss problem - you can sense the injustice, but reality of contracts sets in. Story lines throughout the movie have been done before. There's honor, friendship, commitment etc etc....(spoiler) the closing scenes seem to come full circle and leaving us wondering what the whole fuss was about. Likewise, the final shots, I noticed the big bold US ARMY logos on uniforms and couldn't help wondering if the movie went that direction as sponsored so by the military (ie selling out). If you like fairly well done dramas, Stop Loss is a decent watch - but it doesn't offer any answers. It looks to inform us of a problem and then meekly get in line.