I wanted to like this movie but could not

Rating: 1/10 (22 January 1999)

The Thin Red Line is the first of Malick's work that I have seen or even heard of. It did not take me long to wonder, why this film was billed as a war film at all. For although it brings forth images of war, it focuses more on internal issues than anything else. The characters themselves say little. We see with their eyes, we hear their thoughts but we never truly get a sense of who they are. Nick Nolte's character takes a long time yelling orders and cursing his men's lack of courage. I spent the first half-hour confused about who was who. Many of the characters looked so similar in their army garb, not to mention that their monologues were indistinguishable. There are also several scenes which completely baffled me for their purpose. For example, one solider (his name escapes me) meets another wounded in the leg. They exchange pleasantries on a scenic hilltop and then separate without any action or significance. The monologues dragged on with an excess of rhetorical questions. The still moments of nature and creative use of light was exceptional. However, these images ran too long and at times I began to lose interest. Images, beautiful or not, cannot alone complete a good film. There has to some context for images. As far as acting was concerned, I felt that Sean Penn was just playing himself and not a solider. His indifference and strained effort at emotion was a nuisance, at best. The other big names in this movie were also ambiguous. Clooney receives top billing for a role that lasts only three minutes. John Travolta also plays a short role, in a uniform and mustache that make him look more like one of the Village People than an actual general. John Cussack's character mysteriously disappears at the end - someone help me here... did he die ? The other actors seemed to blend into one big army-green mess, all sniffling and trembling. Realities of war I cannot understand... perhaps. Nick Nolte's raging commander was the only mentionable performance and in the end his character has no closure. I was too lost in the confusing techniques and bored by the length. Anyone with a short attention span will be lost and those who are impatient will leave the theater, as some did.