A great movie, if you haven't read the book.

Rating: Null/10 (29 May 2001)

After watching Saving Private Ryan' and hearing all the hype about The Thin Red Line,' my interest was peaked. The sheer brutality portrayed in the beginning sequence of Saving Private Ryan' put me in complete shock. Up until the end of the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan,' war movies never really gave us an accurate depiction of what it's like to go into battle. What could possibly be going through one's mind as you step off a boat knowing the enemy is pointing a machine gun in your direction, just waiting for the moment when the ramp is dropped. Up until that point, when watching a war movie, those thoughts never crossed my mind.
With my interest peaked, and another movie about the same war to be seen, I decided I wanted to learn a little more about war in general, and the pain and anguish young men between the ages of 18  27 went through. Me falling in that age group had something to do with it as well. So, instead of paying $7 to go and watch another war movie, I decided to spend an extra $7 to buy the book. I wanted to read the book first, and then watch the movie and see how well it followed along. This was either the worst mistake I could've made, or the best choice I have ever made. Now that I have confused you, I'll attempt to explain what this means below.
The Worst Mistake:
I have seen the movie, only after reading the book, and have heard/read a lot of great reviews, including the ones on this site. After hearing/reading all of these reviews, I can definitely see how this movie can be seen as `philosophical', `beautiful', `poetic', etc. However, the movie, even though it is rather long, seems to only skim through the entire book, hopefully capturing the main scenes and give them a short, 2-minute sequence in which to grab your attention and make you realize what these young men had to endure.
For example, a man is lying defenseless in the middle of the battlefield screaming in anguish, while being shot at, desperately asking for help. No one can help him, for fear of being killed in the process. The screams become so unbearable, that finally Sgt. Welsh (Sean Penn) risks his life just to provide comfort to the dying man by giving him enough morphine to keep him quite until he dies. My explanation is basically how the movie interprets this moment, and many other moments: quick and not too powerful. And after watching parts like this, having already read the book, I knew I wasn't going to be satisfied with the rest of the movie.
In short, had I not read the book, I may have enjoyed the movie.
The Best Thing:
Had I watched the movie first, I may not have even thought to read an excellent book.
It's hard for me to say how I liked this movie. To be perfectly honest, I didn't like it very much at all. But, as the old saying goes: `the book is always better than the movie.' And in this case, there is no doubt about it.
So, here are my recommendations:

If you have already read the book, and have not yet seen the movie, don't see the movie.

If you are planning on reading the book, don't see the movie

If you're not planning on reading the book, see the movie

If you have seen the movie, read the book (even though already seeing the movie will have clouded your own opinions, and killed your imagination)

If you have already read the book, and have seen the movie, tell me I'm wrong.