Read the small print...

Rating: Null/10 (17 June 2009)

Your natural inclination is to sympathise with Ryan Phillippe's character when he learns on the day he expects to be leaving the military that he is to be drummed back into the middle of the conflict in Iraq instead. As they say, he should have read the small print, but it's easy to believe that the majority of young men who sign up to serve their country fail to give the documents they're signing more than a cursory glance.
The film follows a fairly routine path, peopled by predictably 'divergent' characters whose mental scars affect them in different ways but, once it moves beyond the somewhat stomach-churning homecoming parade, manages to keep the viewer's interest. Although Philippe, Gordon-Levitt and Tatum all give decent performances as the messed-up returning heroes it's Gordon-levitt who makes the biggest impression thanks to the more understated manner of his performance. Philippe is miscast but manages the role well.
The film is careful not to criticise outright the stop-loss clause that allows the military to send former soldiers back to the battlefield, which means that any message it tries to convey is confused to say the least, a flaw which is then exacerbated by the fact that, late on in the film, it suggests that Philippe's character isn't rebelling against the recall because it is inherently wrong but because he is suffering a crisis of confidence and guilt after leading his men into an ambush on their last mission.