Stop-Loss (2008)

Director:

Kimberly Peirce

Writers (WGA):

Mark Richard (written by) &
Kimberly Peirce (written by)

Release Date:

28 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

The bravest place to stand is by each other's side.

Plot:

A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army.

Plot Keywords:

Honor | Texas | Iraq War | Headlock | Fugitive

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Ryan Phillippe	...	SSgt. Brandon King
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Tommy Burgess
Rob Brown	...	Isaac 'Eyeball' Butler
Channing Tatum	...	Sgt. Steve Shriver
Victor Rasuk	...	Pvt. Rico Rodriguez
Terry Quay	...	Al 'Preacher' Colson
Matthew Scott Wilcox	...	Harvey 'Rabbit' Lankford
Connett Brewer	...	Curtis (as Connett M. Brewer)
Timothy Olyphant	...	Lt. Col. Boot Miller
Josef Sommer	...	Senator Orton Worrell
Linda Emond	...	Ida King
Ciarán Hinds	...	Roy King
Mamie Gummer	...	Jeanie
Abbie Cornish	...	Michelle
Alex Frost	...	Shorty Shriver

Also Known As:

Untitled Kimberly Peirce Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic violence and pervasive language. (re-rating; originally also some strong sexuality)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Ireland:15A | USA:R (certificate #43629) | Australia:MA | Sweden:15 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

A scene was filmed with Maggie Siff as an assistant to Senator Orton Worrell meeting Brandon in the senator's office. The scene was deleted from the final film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Sgt. King visits Rico, as he pushes his wheel chair out of the sun you can clearly see a bulge in Rico's t-shirt where his real arm is resting.

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Passport Issuer: Here's your new ID. If you go, you're gone for good.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The O'Reilly Factor: (2008-04-02)" (2008)

Wish It Could Have Been Better

Maybe the idea was to show the total hopelessness of the conflict--that it was not really a war but urban warfare, and that there is no way to win or to have a happy ending. But that's just an idea--it's not a movie.

I thought that the set-up was fine. But I am not sure the filmmakers knew where to go with it. Their take on the stop-loss policy is obvious, and it is a message that should be heard. But I think the film would have been more interesting if any character exhibited any real growth during the film. The vets were all depicted as basket cases--the most well-adjusted vet seemed to be the double-amputee--he told us why he would want to go back to Iraq and there was at least some productive purpose that would have been served by his return there.

Perhaps there are soldiers who don't mind being stop-lossed--who truly believe they are accomplishing something positive over there. It would have been refreshing to have a character like that--a non-basket case. It would have been good to hear arguments supporting the stop-loss program (if there are any).

The last 20-30 minutes of this film were baffling. The end of the film (not an ending, just an end) was very unsatisfying.

Ryan Philippe did a competent job, but rarely conveyed anything not apparent from the lines or situation. For example, you could see that a lot of his post-war angst was attributable to guilt. How that tied in with the ending is just a mystery to me.

I recall that a very similar military policy was explored by Joseph Heller in Catch-22. I think a comparison to that novel and film is more apt than comparing this to The Deer Hunter.

I wish this film could have been much better than it was.