Stopped in it's tracks....

Rating: 7/10 (31 March 2008)

Stop-Loss, produced by MTV Films and directed by Kimberly Peirce brings us a new a movie part of a small genre of military films that have popped up, not to glorify the horrors of war but to look at a different aspect of the soldier's psyche. In this case we are introduced to Ryan Phillipe's character who has experienced immense amounts of violence, blood, and sadness during his tour in Iraq and the numerous missions he took part in. His plans to disembark from the Army are halted when he is "stop-lossed" by the U.S. government and is re-enlisted against his will, prompting him to go on a journey to Washington to seek help from his senator whom he feels can help him get out of this situation. Performances all around were well done, and they help to make up for the major issues I have with this film. Ryan Phillipe and Joseph-Gordon Levitt stand out among the cast and help to keep the story from becoming dull or slow-moving. Now to the real issues, setting aside that Ryan Phillipe goes from Texas to Tennessee, to New York City, all on a tank of gas AND a motorcycle, there are glaring issues that need to be addressed about his character. He sells his car for $1000, using that money towards a set of Canadian identification, yet moments later he is standing on the Mexican border ready to walk across it. If Ryan Phillipe was so dead-set on going out of the country, why didn't he just use the Canadian papers that he had sold his car for, and dropped in $1000 for? Did he just go to Mexico because it was convenient, after he rode to Texas in a DAY for Joseph Gordon-Levitt's funeral on his new motorcycle? And why does he decide to go back to the Army after all? We see no sign of emotion on his face when he is sitting on the bus, was it all just a dream? You would think that a person who goes AWOL, which by the way is a very serious offense, would have a little more signs of resistance or emotion in their eyes when they are sitting on the bus of the thing which they swore minutes earlier was wrong and was something that they would never return to. Channing Tatum was also told to bring Phillipe in, in 14 hours or else Phillipe would face federal charges, Tatum fails to do this, yet Phillipe is SITTING ON THE BUS IN THE END OF THE MOVIE AS IF NOTHING IN THE MOVIE EVER HAPPENED. No charges filed? No demotion was in order? Nothing? This movie would have been a lot better if he had just shut up, and gone to Mexico, the ending is a clear discontinuity in terms of the characters and the emotions of the whole movie.