Stop-Loss
Dir Kimberley Peirce, feat Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Rob Brown, Channing Tatum (MA 15+)
Kimberly Peirce's home-front drama arrives burdened with two pieces of baggage: the dismal track record of other films about the war in Iraq, and the high expectations for the director's first feature since her superb debut, Boys Don't Cry.
Here, blue-collar manhood is represented by Sergeant Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) and his brothers-in-arms Shriver (Channing Tatum) and Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The guys return home from Iraq to small-town Texas where, soon enough, Shriver is digging a trench in the front yard, Tommy is ploughing his car into inanimate objects and Brandon is ‘stop-lossed': shipped back to Iraq against his will.
Brandon then goes AWOL with Shriver's girl, Michelle (Abbie Cornish), in tow. The film meanders from one melodramatic set piece to another, while the conclusion is disappointing on the level of both politics and drama.