A beautifully shot but boring film

Rating: 7/10 (21 October 2003)

The Thin Red Line aims to be the most beautiful war epic ever shot, and considering that this film was once originally 6 hours in length, I can certainly believe it. What this film has in spades is reflections of how horrible war is and many frames of the beauty of nature, trampled by man's horrid conflict. What this movie lacks is the money shots. What I mean by money shots is the combat sequences are for the most part short and sterile. If you're looking for violent and thrilling combat scenes look elsewhere.
The first battle scene when the troops try a frontal assault up the hill is the best scene in terms of combat. An arguement between Elias Koteas and Nick Nolte is a well acted and dynamic scene. It just doesn't get your blood rushing though. The battle sequence is so long that it loses some of it's momentum and energy.
The cast of this movie is one of the biggest and most accomplished ever assembled. The fact that some of the biggest names are onscreen for only a few minutes is pretty misleading to the viewer. George Clooney and John Travolta's scenes might have been bigger but what we see is what you could loosely refer to as a cameo. Plenty of great actors fill the ranks. You just don't see most of them for very long.
The way this movie is filmed is very scenic and beautiful. You get the feeling that shots of grass blowing in the wind and flowers floating in gentle streams and the waves of the ocean at dusk shouldn't really be in a war movie. You would be right and wrong. On one hand, these shots show how important and wonderful life and nature is and how ironic it is that there is such slaughter and suffering in so beautiful a place. The other hand though, is that when audiences go to a war movie, they want to see combat. The Thin Red Line is sorely lacking that critical component.
Bottom Line: A well done, finely crafted film. Failing to deliver on the action and it's sometimes brain numbing 3 hour length are things you might want to consider before viewing. We can only pray for a Special Edition DVD to show us all those cut scenes.