Tiresome meditation

Rating: 4/10 (28 August 2004)

Reclusive director Terence Malick's first film in YEARS is a heavy-going vision of hellish war (I resist using the term "epic" since Malick's interpretation of mortal combat is frequently rather puny; he's better at quiet moments of contemplation than dealing with actors in volatile situations). Malick seems just about the worst director you could get to film a war movie, but his heart was in the right place I suppose, and--as it turned out--much of Hollywood's male A-list was anxious to work with him (more people must have seen "Days of Heaven" than we thought!). This visit to Guadacanal during WWII is indeed hellish for a group of young soldiers, but their personalities don't really take shape--nor are they particularly likable or interesting (and it's tough to tell from Malick's usual soft-sell if this was intentional). Soldier Woody Harrelson, just after much of his torso is destroyed by a grenade, complains of never being able to f**k again. This tips us off that Malick is contemplative of war as a macho, heterosexual experience, and the bitterness of this scene lingers longer than any of Malick's other intentions. Solemn film is full of dreamy remembrances and intense close-ups of handsome Hollywood faces, but these cameos throw off the film's mood, turning it into an old-fashioned foray (recalling "A Bridge Too Far"). Nick Nolte is simply tiresome as an officer on the verge of hysteria, though both Sean Penn and Elias Koteas come up with interesting characterizations. Otherwise, it's a mess. ** from ****