Poetic, existential vision not likely to satisfy the mainstream

Rating: Null/10 (19 January 1999)

Terence Malick's hypnotic, visionary film The Thin Red Line will likely frustrate and confuse most mainstream cineplex audiences, but it is a work that should not be dismissed or taken lightly. Arguments have been made that the reduction and combination of characters and a clearer narrative drive would have improved the picture, but it is clear that Malick's intentions lie elsewhere. I was hypnotized and mesmerized by the beautiful images (many of them captured with a gliding, soldier's eye-level Steadicam) and the juxtaposition of the lush, natural world against man's intrusive, incomprehensible carnage. The Thin Red Line will forever suffer from the inevitable comparisons to Saving Private Ryan (a much more conventional film), but this is terribly unfortunate, since the two movies are so fundamentally different.