I think that John Tesh and Yanni are amazingly accomplished and proficient composers, but they fail to move me one iota with their long-winded noodling and the same can be said for Mallick. His lush, but ultimately dulling drive-by shots of the jungle used as the background surrounding the soldiers is a technique that wears out its welcome very fast. Instead of dwelling on the actual characters in the film and gaining some insight into their personalities, we are forced to endure countless cinematic asides during which we come to know the flora and fauna of Guadalcanal in more detail than even Sir David Attenborough would care to know. At times, the movie seemed to be part Saving Private Ryan and part PBS nature documentary. Clocking in at nearly three hours, you get more than enough bang for your buck.
Minutes pass like hours.
Hours pass like days. And just when you think the movie's about to end, it's off and running again for another 15 minutes. If you wanna feel like you've spent an eternity at the movie theater, then by all means, go see The Thin Red Line . It seems the vast majority of critics have duped themselves into praising this movie because saying they didn't understand it or that the movie meanders and is just too damn long, would expose them as being boorish and stupid. I, however, have no such qualms about admitting that I'm an unrefined Philistine when it comes to the movies.