Gone too Hollywood

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 1999)

Upon leaving The Thin Red Line, I had to take a moment to step back and ponder my review of the movie. The overall response from the fleeing masses seemed to be that of dissatisfaction. If the film was scaled down a 1/2hr by cutting down on over exposed scenes, such as the many flashbacks-which were too frequent and lengthy. The opening scene could have also been scaled back a few minutes, there was too much time spent reflecting the AWOL soldiers. Yes, that was a segment of the plot but far too much time was spent on it. The battle for the island was over an airfield, which held little of significance with in the movie itself. Not enough if not for the great cast of actors, both known and unknown the movie would have taken a severe hit. The Thin Red Line falls well short of Saving Private Ryan, for film of the year.