One of the best anti-war war movies

Rating: 7/10 (28 December 2003)

The thin red line is one of the best war movies, since it doesn't just focus on the war itself, but also very much on the soldiers, how they feel, during a battle, during a briefing, when just talking between the battles, and it's all very credible and well-acted by all of the actors. All of them portray their characters well; of course a few of the big names are typecast, especially Sean Penn and George Clooney, but that doesn't drag the movie down, as their characters fit well into the situations. The problem of the movie is that it's slow. Very slow. For pretty much every scene that isn't a war scene, it drags terribly. In fact, it drags so much that my rating went from a perfect 10, down to a 7. The war scenes are incredibly realistic, very chaotic and confusing, explosions everywhere, people running and shooting everywhere. Perfectly staged, perfectly done, simply perfect. But the scenes between the battles are at times so incredibly slow that it can be a trial to sit through them. I guess if you like war movies, and you can sit through this, you probably should. But be prepared for some very slow scenes. 7/10