amazing, awesome, inspiring, profound

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 1999)

i can't even begin to describe how great this movie was. i waited for a long time for it to come to my town, and saw it opening night when it finally did. i place it as my number one movie of the year. i know some people who didn't like it, and its quite obvious that they simply didn't get it - it was over their heads. i think they would have been more comfortable in something more intellectually devoid, such as varsity blues.
this movie had some of the best imagery i have ever seen. for instance, when the narration is talking about the family of man and how did we end up fighting each other, while the camera is following a mother hen whose diffeernt colored chicks are all running in different directions.
the dialogue was very effective, especially the lack of dialogue in certain scenes. for instance - the scenes where nic nolte is yelling at john cusack, and when sean penn is questioning whit. rather than have whit or john cusack ramble on in a stereotypical way, both say absolutely nothing - very effective.
when i saw it with several friends, we all liked it, but some complained that too many characters looked and sounded alike, and they couldn't tell the difference. i thought that this was one of the best things about it. it put the whole man and nature thing together. instead of individual men, it was "man" in general.
in comaparison with private ryan, red line was better. to me, private ryan was just a great war movie that didn't affect me in any personal way. the great thing about red line is that it was a war movie that is really not about the war, but its effect on man and nature.
this is definately a must see. terrence malick is a genius. i urge everyone to see this. if you don't get it, it's your loss - go see it again till you do get it.
4 stars, 10, 2 thumbs up, whatever. it was great. go see it.