Gets better with each viewing

Rating: Null/10 (6 June 2004)

I first saw this film when it was released in '98 and I was underwhelmed to say the least but, recently, for some reason I felt compelled to give it another try. I would admit that many of my favorite films have been ones which I disliked at first but eventually grew to love. Such classics as Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time in the West are two such films. I would add The Thin Red Line as the third such film. The star power in this film is so much that you'd expect it to overwhelm the film itself much the way the stars of The Longest Day did with that film. You couldn't become engrossed in the picture because you kept waiting for the next movie star to show up. No, in The Thin Red Line the stars only accentuate the film and bring the story to the forefront. Strike that, the story is off little consequence. It's the mood and tone of the film that drives it. I only warn that those that don't like it the first wait a while and view it again.