The film by which I judge ALL others

Rating: 1/10 (16 August 2002)

In all my life, I have never sat in a cinema and seen so many people leave before the end of the film. The only reason I stayed is because the friends I was with looked interested in it and they thought the same of me. Had we actually spoken we all would have left with the rest of the discerning customers.
At the end of this most unpleasant marathon, the entire audience breathed out a huge sigh and one guy behind summed it all up about how glad we were that it was finally over with the wise words "Praise Jesus!"
This is the most pompous misleading pile of rubbish I have ever had the misfortune to see in my entire life. Practically an art house movie, the only decent character, played by Woody Harelson, dies early on leaving us with nothing but bad poetry and no real plot.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy any film that stirs emotions and gets you thinking but the only thing I was thinking with this was 'please finish'.
One tiny plus point is that there is one scene that more than any other goes further to capture the absolute terror of the troops as their leader has a conversation with the general about whether or not he should send them all to certain death.
This however lasts about two or three minutes and really isn't worth the effort of watching the rest of this self-indulgent drivel.
I thank this film for one thing - I now judge all films by what I call the Thin Red Line (TRL) factor. How many times would I rather watch the film I have just seen than watch the Thin Red Line even once.
For example - Leon: The Professional scores around a 10. I would rather watch Leon 10 times back to back than watch the TRL once.
No film I have ever seen since (or before for that matter) has ever scored lower than a 2. Even Rambo 3.
Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.