Worth seeing, but not spectacular.

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 1999)

Not as bad as some said; It could of been trimmed by about forty fives minutes of all the nature scenery and monologues and it had potential of being great. But...this is the movie.
It was compared to "The English Patient" by some palates, I disagree. Let's put it this way: "The English Patient" was a boring, contrived, pretentious little Romance flick and the characters (and concept overall) were despicable and uninteresting. "The Thin Red Line" was the opposite. While the pacing might of peeved some people, it was nothing like "The English Patient." Let me reiterate, "The English Patient" was just a bad, hyped-for-no-reason movie, this is not. If anything, this movie was underhyped.
It was fascinating, and somewhat different. It wasn't an action movie (and it wasn't as great as Saving Private Ryan) but there was no yah-yah-yah Hollywoodness to the finale or even the film itself and it relied on the thoughts of these soldiers as a key premise. Who narrated each of these thoughts? That's not important. War is a scattered mess. Think of yourself as a confidante in this movie who knows how to read minds of all the characters; You hear their fears, emotions, what is worth coming back (home) to, even their destiny. It may not make sense, but they're not saying this, they're THINKING this. (A similar plot device in the powerful WWII movie, "A Midnight Clear"). These characters might have not been people to care for, but the depiction of their feelings was realistic and the atmosphere was very well done.
Now I'll admit, some of the "insights" went over-the-top, and few nature shots went on too long. But it is worth seeing once, as long as you lower your expectations and don't expect a superficial Hollywood movie with lots of action and a big name cast.