Was this a joke?

Rating: 5/10 (9 April 2008)

This was a great idea for a movie...gone wrong. Kimberley, what happened? You went from Boys Don't Cry to Stop-Loss?
I would first like to praise this movie for what it was worth. First, I love how the director and write depicted what a soldier goes through after getting out from an army. That was dead-on. They convey the emotions, the disillusionment, and the tension one causes when exiting a war. Second, I would like to say that this was a great plot. I did not know about the term "stop-loss" until this movie, and it infuriates me. Scene after scene, my head was starting to blow up. It really brought to my attention the problems we have in our military system.
Now for the critiques... I would first like to say something about the writing. Although it was good in portraying the emotions, the logic of the character was extremely skewed. First of all, he chose Mexico over Canada? Are you kidding? You're choosing a third world country over a developed country! And at the end, after wasting $1,000, driving everywhere, and complaining for 2 hours, he decided to go back to the military.
Second, the directing was kind of poor. There was this one scene that pulled away from the realism of the piece. The main character was in New York, about to go to Canada, when all of a sudden he gets a phone call. One of his soldier buddy died. So on the day of his funeral, the main character showed up. How is that possible? You have no money, you have no car, you're on a motorcycle, and you get back JUST in time for the funeral? Also the scar wounds healed in two days, which made the whole movie even more fake.
Third, I want to comment about the acting. I would first like to say BRAVA to Joseph Gordon-Levitt for an amazing performance, once again. He portrayed his character to a T, and he did such an amazing job. Ryan Phillippee also did an great job. Not amazing, but he was pretty good. I still respect him as an actor, but he could have done better. Lastly, I want to complain about Channing Tatum. Where are the casting directors? They did a horrible job for casting him. He was auto-pilot the whole time. I didn't buy a thing he said, all he could do was scream and yell. His acting was laughable. The end scene when he broke down and "cried", was extremely laughable. When his ONE TEAR fell down from his eye was extremely fake. Did he use an eye drop? While Ryan is giving so much emotion in that scene, Channing is not giving anything back.
That's all I have to say about the movie. I do want people to watch it, so they know what the military does to us, but don't expect Oscars from this.