Not to everyone's taste, to be sure. It is long, meandering and somewhat baffling. Malick steadfastly avoids giving us a cohesive narrative, interested as he is in the bigger picture, the intangible, the relationship of Man to Nature, that sort of thing. Based on a novel by James Jones, the basic material was filmed before in 1964, but that one is now pretty much forgotten. We don't spend much time with any one of the many characters.
Stars come and go.
Here's John Travolta for two minutes. The whole point Jones was making is that war dehumanizes men and identities are merged. There is little room for individuality on the battlefield, which Malick aptly illustrates. The stunning cinematography is by two-time Oscar winner John Toll. Many will find the elusiveness of a traditional dramatic curve frustrating.