Spikeopath Kimberley Peirce's (Boys Don't Cry) movie proved to be controversial in military circles. The story is about the stop-loss procedure used by the American military, a kind of small print tactic that can extend a soldiers service should their country deem it so. Sergeant Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) returns home from the Gulf Wars with his mentally scarred pals fully expecting to get back to a domestic life without blood and brains dominating his personal landscape. Yet he is called back in for another tour of Iraq under the stop-loss procedure, something he rebels against and goes AWOL. He has done two tours already, surely he has earned his retirement?It starts off in electrified fashion, the horrors of the war in Iraq bursting from the screen as a firefight ensues, character traits are introduced to us, we are left in no doubt that the soldiers at the end of this tour of duty have seen it all. Pic then settles into a sort of cross between a road movie and a PTSD portrait awash with emotional strangulation. Peirce and her co-writer Mark Richard have honourable intentions, but too much is given over to stereotyping, of stock clichés and the bold signposting of character's futures. They carefully paint King as a model soldier, this is definitely not about cowardice, but come the cop-out finale it's evident that the narrative suffers glaring inconsistencies and confused messaging.On the bonus side is the performances of the youthful cast, where some fluctuating accents aside, Phillippe, Channing Tatum and Abbie Cornish are superb, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes a weakly written part crackle with pained emotion. Of the elders, most are underwritten, which is a shame when you got the likes of Ciaran Hinds in the cast. We are left as a whole with a film that is as uneven as a dusty road in Tikrit, not only in narrative structure, but also in actual facts as regards the procedures of the American military, both on the written documents and execution of duty in battle.It was a flop at the American box-office and it's not hard to see why, but it still has merits. Even as the familiarity tries to breed contempt, the anguished reality of a soldiers life, during tours and post service time, strikes a mightily distressing chord. 6.5/10

Enchorde Recap: After two tours in Iraq Staff Sergeant Brandon King is finally coming home and is leaving the army. With he has his friends that he served with, men that became as close as brothers, equally eager to quit fighting, equally happy to finally be close to dear ones. But the boys may be home, but they certainly haven't left the war behind. It is with them constantly, and each of them struggles with in their own way. They abuse drugs and alcohol and get into fights. It tear every relationship apart. Their wives and girlfriends can't handle them, the brotherhood between them comes under extreme pressure. So when King finds out that the army is about to Stop-Loss him, which means it won't let him quit and forcefully send him back to Iraq, Brandon feels betrayed. The army and government that he fought for, risked his life for, broke their deal. And he can't handle anymore death, more friends dying. He goes AWOL in a race for Washington, to speak with a senator, but he soon finds out that as fugitive, the list of friends quickly grows thin.Comments: A strong movie about courage and duty, and doing the honorable thing. About how a government that has sent thousands of soldiers to fight a war on foreign soil, can turn their back on the same men once they returned home. How deals are broken, trust betrayed and the despair these men that is forced to rejoin can feel.It is a strong movie about how it feels to return home with these horrible memories (at best) and not being able to handle them, the strain it puts on these individuals and their relationships.Well, I have not been in any war, neither am I American, so the real issues might not be mine to debate, even if I do have a clear opinion about it. However, so does it seem this movie has. And it is very good at relaying it.Ryan Philippe, Channing Tatum and Abbie Cornish gives very strong performances along with the rest of a strong cast. Their acting is reason enough to watch this movie, a real impressive effort.It might be so that some of the events is not entirely realistic, however to dismiss the movie or the emotions that are portrayed in them because of that is foolish. It portrays a part of a war that both individuals and governments that send their soldiers to war need to handle. Therefore I think this movie gives an important statement in that debate.In the end, just focusing on the movie, it was a really good movie. Well acted with a real good story that kept my interest without problem. A drama with some real emotion and close to the thriller genre. Well worth watching! 7+/10

kai ringler i thought that this was a very compelling movie.. lot's of good character development, ryan phillipe was great in this, he really knocked it out of the park with this one, he plays a staff seargeant who comes home a "hero" from Iraq, there is a parade , the whole town comes out , the senator is there and tells him anything you need son, come look me up. so him and his buddies spend a few days at home over the weekend catching up with their wives girlfriends,, and what not, things get rowdy and lot's of drinking happens, usual stuff. so on Monday morning our hero goes back to the office to get his official discharge papers,, well to his chagrin, he is sent back to iraq for another tour of duty, this little known "trick" in the military is in the fine print,, basically it says , the president can extened you're military term in time of war.. well in this particular case the war was already declared over years ago,, there you can see our hero's dilemma should he suck it up and go back or fight the system. he decides to fight the system going AWOL.. that's absent without leave.. first he tries canada then d.c. then Mexico.. and were not to the end yet. very compelling movie, it's grips you to the core, and makes you wanna get up and do something about getting our boys back in one piece from Iraq which we have no business being there in the first place.

meeza There is no loss of masculinity testosterone in the Iraq War theme film "Stop-Loss". It stars cinematic heartthrobs Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, and Joseph Gordon Levitt. Director Kimberly Peirce's poignant "peirce of work" on the mental psyche of the American soldier post Iraq combat duty is probably the best of the platoon of Iraqi movies so far; even though I still have not unlocked and checked out the critically acclaimed "The Hurt Locker". In "Stop-Loss"- Phillippe stars as Sgt. Brandon King, a multiple-duty served soldier who returns to his Texas hometown after his last tour only to discover a short time after that he has been "stop-lossed" to serve once again. Undoubtedly, King is at a loss for words on hearing the disastrous news but nothing is going to stop him to evade another Iraqi nightmare. Therefore, he decides to win the "stop-loss" AWOL style by taking a road trip to seek assistance from a U.S. Senator to the nation's capital. King's travel companion is childhood female friend Michelle, tenderly played by the breakthrough-verging Abbie Cornish. Tatum portrays Sgt. Steve Shriver, King's best friend and soldier peer. Shriver is willing to reenlist to serve once more even though he has not completed his "tour of boyfriend duty" to his impatient girlfriend, the aforementioned "She is Michelle". The steady Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the third soldier hometown amigo Tommy Burgess who goes AWOL on his own mental state and not to mention liver by taking aim at the liquor lifestyle. I do commend Peirce for her magnificent cerebral architecture of the mental battle of the postwar American soldier. Even though I do feel that scriber Mike Richard's formulaic screenplay needed some more ingenious verbal-creative firepower. Phillippe's vastly improving acting continued to step up the thespian hierarchy with his commanding performance as Sgt. King. Tatum also followed his acting orders to the "tee" with his striking work as Shriver, and Gordon-Levitt continues to be one of Hollywood's bright young stars with another superb performance. And Dear Abbie Cornish: Simply keep doing what you are doing. I was also surprisingly flabbergasted with Victor Rasuk's sensitive performance as the war-afflicted handicapped Pvt. Rico Rodriguez. Cinematographer Chris Menges was a man at war with his gripping imminent camera-work. "Stop-Loss" was not a masterful major cinematic winner but definitely not in the war loss film category. **** Good