Brilliance is often misunderstood when it's a far cry from the familiar

Rating: 10/10 (15 February 1999)

As a huge fan of war movies, it was refreshing to finally see a new perspective on it all. While films like "Saving Private Ryan", which is a decent film as far as realism is concerned, capitalize on violence and tend to be weak on heart and philosophy, "The Thin Red Line" is able to meld a number of different people's experience of the war into a single, Zen-like throughline which is as brilliantly poetic as it is realistic.
Unlike most typical 'Hollywood' stylized films, "The Thin Red Line" is not single-character driven. Many of director Terrence Malick's lengthy and sweeping camera shots are more like european cinema, with its shot driven scene driven action which is an uncommon phenomenon among the average audience at a typically 'Hollywood' film.
By no means am I suggesting that people who didn't like the movie just "didn't get it." Everyone is entitled to an opinion and I can understand why a lot of people wouldn't like this film. It is very different from the usually fodder Hollywood sends us. Those in the know, however, can appreciate a film that isn't afraid to tell a story in a new way, and isn't afraid to take chances to let it's poetic brilliance lead it into the history books as one of the greatest (and at least a lot more oscar worthy than "Saving Private Ryan") war movies ever.