The WWII movie that your date didn't want to see

Rating: 6/10 (19 January 2000)

This film shows us the horrors of war and voice overs. The uneven pacing of this film is probably it's worst enemy. When this movie is good, underscored by unbelievably good performances by Nick Nolte and Sean Penn it's excellent, but it gets brought down in endless scenes that come out of nowhere with the camera focusing on a leaf in the middle of the battle. Perhaps this is how real battles are fought, but it makes for a lousy movie.
Despite these problems, the director has given us some excellent portions with some long overdue portrayals of the Japanese both in defeat, victory and madness. And the battle scenes are as good as anything that any other war movie could have come up with.
With that said, The Thin Red Line is a very good movie, and a very entertaining rental.