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Stop-Loss | 
| Director: Kimberly Peirce
Actors: Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Joseph Gordon-levitt, Rob Brown, Channing Tatum
Studio: Paramount
Buy New: $3.99
Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 4579
Genre: Drama
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 113 Minutes
ASIN: B001DXC6Z0
Theatrical Release Date: March 28, 2008
Release Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Synopsis:
Decorated Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty. He tries to resume the life he left behind with the help and support of his family and his best friend, Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum), who served with him in Iraq. Along with their other war buddies, Brandon and Steve try to make peace with civilian life. Then, against Brandon’s will, the Army orders him back to duty in Iraq, which upends his world. The conflict tests everything he believes in: the bond of family, the loyalty of friendship, the limits of love and the value of honor. |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
 Despicable April 25, 2008
Eric A. Rutherford (Tikrit, Iraq)
24 out of 32 found this review helpful
So, I am sitting here in Iraq watching this tripe, and I want to puke. It is such an innacurate portrayal of the war, the military, and Soldiers.
This "hero" is a coward. He lets his whole outfit go back without him. If he was such a great Soldier, leader and hero, he would have been the first in line.
Yeah, people get stop lossed. When I VOLUNTEERED to come to Iraq, I knew that I was going to get stop lossed MONTHS in advance.
The idea that the day you go to ETS, they just drop it on you as an individual that you are stop lossed is preposterous. Yeah, the Army can hang onto you for however long the need to. It is part of the deal. Yeah, if you join you might have to go to war. If you enlisted VOLUNTARILY after 9/11 and don't think you are going to war, you are an idiot.
This film portrays cowards as heros. From what I hear, it is being lauded in the states as some form of great tale of how things really are over here, and how they are for my brothers in arms upon their return home.
Nobody asked us to sign up for this. We knew the deal when we signed the papers and swore an oath before God that we would serve our nation for those who could not serve for themselves.
This film is a disgrace, and puts a black mark on all of the heroic deeds of the brave men and women over here on their first, second, or seventh deployment.
Boys Do Cry March 31, 2008
H. F. Corbin (ATLANTA, GA USA)
11 out of 17 found this review helpful
Kimberly Pierce's last movie was "Boys Don't Cry," starring Hilary Swank who gave a critically acclaimed performance. Now eight years later Pierce directs "Stop-Loss, the term used to describe the military's sending soldiers back to battle when they have just finished one combat tour of duty. I am not sure what I was expecting but I got more than I bargained for as apparently did the other members of the audience from both my and their reactions. They ranged from audible sobs that began almost immediately after the film began, to groans to one man's comment sitting near me of "damn this country." Although I have never seen "Saving Private Ryan" but know of the first 20 minutes or so of the violent depiction of battle in that film, I cannot fathom, however, that it is rawer and bloodier than the first few minutes of "Stop-Loss." The violence and bloodshed are relentless, and the battle scenes are shot as if they were done by an amateur with a hand-held video camera.
The acting is impeccable; the cinematography --by Chris Menges-- is extraordinary. The film essentially belongs to Ryan Phillipe who plays Sgt. Brandon King-- although there are no bad performances--, recently having returned to his hometown in Texas after completing a tour of duty in Iraq where he lost several of his men. On the day that he is to have been discharged, he learns that he has been reassigned to Iraq. Rather than return to combat, he goes AWOL and does a cross-country drive to Washington with his friend Michelle played by Abbie Cornish in another first-class performance. They in their naivete initially believe that their senator will be able to help them.
I am not sure what the director wanted to achieve. Supposedly she made the movie out of anger over her brother's experience as a soldier in Iraq. If she wanted to show the horror of war, she more than accomplished her mission. The violence and the heartwrenching fate of the soldiers, both in and after combat, begin in the first frames of the film and never abate. The nadir of this movie-- although several events come close-- occurs when King, on his way to D. C., visits his forever-maimed buddy in a hospital. The soldier's optimism-- is he whistling in the dark-- in such overwhelming adversity-- will tear your heart out.
Upon leaving the theatre, I wondered if this film would have any effect on anyone. The hawks and doves probably will not change their positions on the Iraq War. On the other hand, conventional wisdom says that sometimes art does make a difference. The novel UNCLE TOM'S CABIN we are told influenced how people felt about slavery. And recently much was made by the media as to whether "Saturday Night Live's depiction of Hillary Clinton's unfair treatment by the media with a capital "M" would in any way have an impact on voters.
If nothing else, this film stands for the proposition that indeed boys-- even grown men-- do cry, as evidenced both by the men in "Stop-Loss" and the men in the audience.
 3 1/2 Stars: Stars and Stripes March 30, 2008
MICHAEL ACUNA (Southern California United States)
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
Director Kimberly Peirce's last film was the revolutionary, emotionally-charged and truthful "Boy's Don't Cry" with the galvanizing performance of Hilary Swank. That was over 8 years ago and now she has returned with the Iraq War drama, `Stop-Loss" starring a coterie of edgy, hot young actors.
Oddly enough, I think that almost all of the Iraq War based dramas like the recent "Rendition" have been failures at the box office which leads me to wonder, why?
Perhaps, since it is literally happening now, it is too current: the wounds are opening daily with no healing in sight. At the very least, We as Americans are conflicted about our involvement in Iraq.
Peirce has chosen to use the Iraq War as a background onto which she bases her drama with Universal themes of: Where do I fit in? Where do I belong? Do I belong?
Working here with co-writer Mark Richard, Peirce has found a subject in the way the war in Iraq is tearing apart many of its soldiers, in combat and when they return home. This is a wrenching story of men at arms who cannot find peace outside the military circle, who return to civilian life on the horrific edge of violence and despair. This point of view is of course not new, going back at least as far as William Wyler's "The Best Year's of Our Lives" and Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter." War is Hell: this we all know and can empathize with but the aftermath, the coming home, the re-adjusting to Life after War is worse.
Several actors shine here: primarily the Brandon King of Ryan Phillipe (whose stop-loss forced re-enlistment forms the backbone of this film) and the Michele of Abbie Cornish who basically steals the film from under all her hot shot male cast members with her persuasive, thoughtful and totally believable performance.
There are several scenes in "Stop Loss" which approach and sometimes go over the edge into hokiness but overall, this film has a real emotional life: these are characters who emote from a real place, a place that it is obvious that Peirce believes in, invests in and ultimately it is the saving grace of this flawed, yet sock-in-the-gut experience film.
Afterburn July 9, 2008
Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States)
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
The title of this film STOP-LOSS may puzzle many. According to Wikipedia, 'Stop-loss, in the United States military, is the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service (ETS) date. It also applies to the cessation of a permanent change of station (PCS) move for a member still in military service'. According to writer (with Mark Richard)/director Kimberly Pierce (whose previous 'Boy's Don't Cry' tackled similarly volatile issues), the impetus for making this film about the effects of war on veterans returning home was her viewing of videos taken by soldiers while actively engaged in battle in Iraq: this is the first war where the soldiers have actually photographed their own experiences, documenting the realities/horrors of war on the now popular video equipment at their disposal. It is a solid idea for a film, but somehow the idea gets diluted in the script.
Texas homeboys who have just returned from the Iraq war are greeted with a parade and medals and empty rhetoric, but find adapting to reentry into their native land is fraught with the deeply embedded mental wounds of their experience: interpersonal relationships fall apart, families face altered personalities in their sons, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome reigns. Brandon (Ryan Phillippe) blames himself for the deaths of his men, Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) drinks himself toward suicide, Rico (Victor Rasuk) attempts to see past his traumatically missing limbs, Isaac (Rob Brown) finds his entire world out of focus, and Steve (Channing Tatum) sees the military as his only point of reality to a life of success. When Brandon receives his Stop-Loss instead of his discharge papers his world turns upside down and he flounders in his nightmares and his need for escape to Canada or Mexico with his friend Michelle (Abbie Cornish). The horror of events that follow the homecoming of these damaged soldiers culminates in a tragedy that somehow results in the soldiers following the orders of the governmental Stop-Loss orders. And that is the worst tragedy.
Though the message is important, the delivery of it gets hazy: the motivations of the characters are too loosely defined to convince us of their terrible plights. But the impact on the public should be a wake-up call on the extended damage of war - any war- on the men and women who experience it first hand and carry the mental scars for life. For that reason, if for no other, this is a film that should be seen. Grady Harp, July 08
 This movie is one of a kind! July 8, 2008
Demario Moore (Memphis,Tennessee USA)
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
I actually thought that this would be just another war movie. I was wrong. It's actually not a war movie at all. This is simply a story about a soldier that has done his time in Iraq and the same country he's just fought for refuses to let him leave. I had no idea this was going on. Thank-God i decided not to join the military. I always hated the fact that the army acts as if they own the troops. They are not property of the United States, they are defenders of our country. Ryan Phillippe gives one of the best performences of his career. I believe he's one of the most underated actors in hollywood. This movie is definately a must see.
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