War doesn't ennoble men. It turns them into dogs, poisons their souls...

Rating: 9/10 (23 November 2008)

In THE THIN RED LINE, Terrence Malick serves up a compelling story full of chaos and intrigue, in a visually pleasing manner, as is his artistic tendency. Many shots contained herein serve to give the viewer a 'feel' of the environment. Such shots focus on images as diverse as crocodiles, insects, dogs, streams, and hills (to name a few). The brilliant imagery leaps out at the viewer in a profound manner, to enhance the overall experience of the film.
The story itself is a deep and immersive one; it is intelligent, multi-dimensional, complex, and character-driven. Malick assembles an all-star cast for this motion picture, with mixed results. Some are quite magnificent, including Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, and Ben Chaplin. Some are mediocre, including John Cusack, Adrien Brody, and Woody Harrelson. And a couple are just plain awful (John Travolta and George Clooney), but thankfully they have very little screen time and hopefully viewers are too starstruck to notice their poor acting. They decrease the film's overall quality to some extent, but should not take away from the film itself, as it remains a gripping war movie, easily one of the best to emerge out of the 1990s.
Having been made shortly after the excellent SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, this film had huge footsteps to follow, and it does so successfully for the most part. The problem is that THE THIN RED LINE falters a bit in its final quarter. The editing seems rushed, and story stumbles a bit, seeming incoherent as it rambles and sprawls. The resulting sense of disorientation takes away a bit from the film, but should not detract any potential viewers, as the film is epic in scope and content. THE THIN RED LINE features some excellent cinematography and writing. Unfortunately, it will always seem/feel like the less-favoured second child, after Steven Spielberg's masterpiece. In this case, it is not necessarily a bad thing.
I consider myself to be a huge War-movie fan (and critic) and I thoroughly enjoyed THE THIN RED LINE. It deals with the terror and panic that grip soldiers on the battlefield in a refreshingly chaotic and complex way. On a side note, Martin Scorsese (possibly the best director of all time, and my personal favourite) lists this as his second favourite movie of the 1990s.
3.5 stars (out of 4). 9/10. Should enter my Top 100 at #97. Unreservedly recommended.