War is hell. OK OK I geddit!!!!

Rating: 2/10 (14 April 2006)

War is hell. War is hell. War is hell. Repeat 1,000 times and you've got the Thin Red Line. Terrence Malick doesn't understand the 'show don't tell' ethos of good filmaking. I watched Cross of Iron, All is Quiet on the Western Front and Das Boot and definitely got the feeling that being at war was pointless, wasteful and, er, hellish. But old Tel thinks those great films completely missed the point. What they needed was endless voice overs and slow-mos of people looking unhappy to get the message across. Unable to get the overall feeling that warfare isn't mankind's greatest hour across? What you need to do is just get the prettiest young actors around to look tortured for about three+ hours. OK I'll declare an interest. I hate voice-overs. I think they just show a director that has panicked in the editing room and lost confidence in his film. To sum up: the Thin Red Line stinks. It's beautifully shot, got some great actors in it, and has a lauded director at the helm. It sets itself up as an overwhelming indictment of war. I just found it tedious, preaching, nonsense and a massive disappointment. And it was up itself.