Following the harrowing and superbly made opening sequences of hand to hand combat in Iraq, we can feel the frustrations and the anger through the film, and we sympathise. But the film has a confused message ...
Comment
08/04/08
Stop-Loss (2008)
64
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:138
Fresh:89
Rotten:49
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Stop-Loss is sincere and complex, and features strong performances, even if it tries to cover too much ground.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Aug 7, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $10,796,776
Synopsis: Director Kimberly Peirce (BOYS DON'T CRY) tackles another controversial topic with STOP-LOSS, the story of a U.S. soldier forced back into battle. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) has just returned to... [More]
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Reviews for Stop-Loss
Top CriticStop-Loss is a tough film to watch and one that raises issues of concern that travel far beyond the war-torn regions. But whether its message is accurately targeted is for the viewer to decide
08/04/08
Top CriticAfter five years of news footage and documentaries coming from the war in Iraq, Stop-Loss is as phony as a re-enactment with finger pup pets.
03/28/08
A one sided look at the Iraq War and its affect on our soldiers
04/04/08
Viewers of any age are bound to be moved by [director Peirce's] primary theme: that there is no easy cure for these damaged young veterans, whether they return to war or fight their demons at home.
03/28/08
Problem is: 'Stop-Loss' isn't really about that legal loophole. Instead, it's about soldiers' post-traumatic stress, a subject covered far more effectively before.
03/30/08
Sharply uneven, Peirce's film is structurally flawed in the first reels, but it improves considerably in the second half, which documents the dramatic effects of a controversial, little known government policy on a cligue of friends.
03/12/08
Adds to the ranks of films on the Iraq war that very few people will volunteer to see, not merely because the topic is difficult but because...it's so terribly uneven.
03/27/08
Clearly, Peirce's motives are pure. She's not using the 'stop-loss' issue as a wedge to make the government or the administration look bad. She's using it to dramatize an injustice and to advocate on behalf of the soldiers.
03/28/08
In some ways, there is a grim, accidental timeliness in the release of Stop-Loss, which focuses on the ordeal of American soldiers in and out of combat.
03/27/08
Top CriticBut whatever you think about the Iraq war and the people who are fighting in it, you'll be shaken up and moved by Stop-Loss.
05/01/08
It's more a sweaty assemblage of dramatic high-points than a coherent, persuasive story of wounded warriors trying to make it.
03/28/08
Stop-Loss misses emotional beats and hammers home its frustration; yet in a week where we've lost our 4,000th soldier, its impatience is a virtue.
03/31/08
Being better than In the Valley of Elah’s lazy view of returning vets as damaged and mentally depraved isn’t good enough.
03/26/08
The film gets pretty heavy handed in the last third and is weighed down by an inadequate performance.
06/18/08
If Gordon-Levitt (who's delivered stellar performances in Mysterious Skin and The Lookout) had been moved up from his supporting role to the lead, the film would improve considerably.
03/28/08
Rather than dwell with a bunch of debating politicians, Peirce explores the serious psychological issues that many soldiers have upon return from any war.
03/28/08
...more of an artillery based Abercrombie and Fitch road trip than a concise character study.
03/28/08
Stop-Loss goes in too many directions at once, and most of those directions are predictable.
03/27/08
That Stop-Loss wears its generally good intentions on its camo sleeve doesn't keep it from being consigned to the missed-opportunity file.
03/27/08
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