Confused exercise in pointlessness

Rating: 1/10 (6 November 2003)

What a mess! This film was the directorial reemergence of hermit-like director Terrence Malick after a twenty-year absence. A darling of film buffs, Malick had dropped out of sight after 1978's DAYS OF HEAVEN. The critical community awaited THIN RED LINE with childlike eagerness, ready to gush over any pearls that Malick was willing to cast before the viewing public. It was this hero worship that motivated most of the reviews that praised THIN RED LINE as a work of beauty and introspective genius. These reviews were exercise in not pointing out the emperor had no clothes. While film critics described LINE as a "tone poem" or a "philosophical exploration into the nature of man" few described it as a good (or even comprehensible) movie.
This is not to say LINE is very deep. Most of Malick's observations (war is bad, men are brothers, Cain slew Able) have been made before and better in other films. THIN RED LINE is a self absorbed exercise in failed editing, the vanity piece of a small budget director allowed to go mad with a major studio's money.
What appears on screen is a jumbled mix of footage from a National Geographic nature special and a preachy and poorly directed anti-war screed. Lush nature scenes are followed by incoherent bits of method acting and disconnected plot. Malick had some of the finest young actors of the period to work with, but won't let them act. Few have much time on screen, and much of their dialogue is drowned out by intrusive voice-over telling us what the actors are thinking. He fails to remember that the point of drama is to have the actors ACT and allow us to figure out what they are thinking. There is no character development and no discernable plot thread. Added to this is the bizarre casting of a pudgy and longhaired John Travolta as a General (!?) and an over-the-top Nick Nolte as a deranged and glory hungry Colonel to make a confused stew that only the pretentious or hopelessly Malick smitten could love.
The only watchable segment is a combat scene where John Cusack (playing an Army Captain) leads an assault on a Japanese bunker complex, a sequence that stands up to any in film history. Seeing the quality of that scene actually makes one a little sad, to think of the film that Malick could have made with more focus and self-control. If he could do such a fine job there, what a shame that he wasted so much talent (his and the actors) and time (his and the film viewing public) on what is essentially a college film project made with a 50 million dollar budget.
For a better picture of the harshness of war close-up read James Jones' original novel THE THIN RED LINE upon which this film and a 1964 predecessor were based.