A movie that loses its way

Rating: 2/10 (19 June 2019)

The Thin Red Line is based on a novel written by actual Guadalcanal veteran James Jones. While the novel is a searing insight into psychological terror of combat, this movie does not quite know where it wishes to go.
On the one hand, it features exceptionally well done cinematography, especially with respect to the many scenes of nature. However, these scenes often appear well out of place, and disrupt the continuity of the core narrative.
This movie fails because it keeps diverting from the psychological examination of the characters, which is the dominant theme of the novel, and is why the novel is considered a classic. What screenplay writer and director Terrence Malick appears to be attempting is to contrast the insanity of man with the serine calm and logic of nature. However, by using visuals to convey the contrast, he not only distracts from an otherwise powerful portrayal, but leaves this intention implied vice stated.
Ultimately, the movie presents an overall negative portrayal of the commanders in the field, showing them as borderline competent at best. The screenplay attempts to assemble the most implausible of actions and represent them as being commonplace. The effort here attempts to project war as not merely chaotic, but something that causes nearly everyone to lose their mental faculties.
In the end, Japanese soldiers are shown as willing captives when in truth there were hardly any captured alive in the actual battle. Worse, this gross historical distortion appears done for no other purpose than to portray American soldiers as diabolical instruments, wishing to torment their captives. This sort of presentation is highly offensive to the actual veterans of the Guadalcanal battle.
The tense drama of war can be rendered accurately and still portray an intensely gripping drama. One does not need to contrive situations such as this film creates for itself. The entirely random and sudden nature of death and maiming in war does not need to be dressed up. It's reality is poignant enough.
The miniseries Band of Brothers perhaps conveys this truth best of all, and sadly this movie wanted to portray war as an instrument of universal insanity that saps nearly all men of their moral compass and rational judgement. While Jones wished to write a novel that explored this topic, this movie took great liberties to portray it in a very over-the-top and unfair manner.