Review of The Thin Red Line (1998) by Phillip D — 06 Mar 2016

Malick once again proves capable of butchering any film, no matter what the star wattage on board. The Thin Red Line is a poorly edited, confusingly shot mess with one of the great Hans Zimmer's most forgettable soundtracks (although you have to wonder if Malick didn't just edit that out along the way).

As has been stated by many, Malick has no editing or writing skills and the simplistic dialogue, poor character development and uneven tone reflect this. Several of his big name stars barely make it into the film, cut out or cut down by the editing of a drugged out wannabe artist.

The film spends copious amounts of time on tonally awkward reflection shots and unnecessary voiceover, which Malick uses predictably whenever he has any character say anything he considers to be profound (essentially any piece of low level high school poetry).

It takes nearly the entire film to even get to a coherent scene and even then, Malick's accuracy is dubious at best (Google works really well, I promise) and his inability to show blood and gore cuts the stakes right out of the scene.

Unlike his betters in Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan, Malick simply cannot portray realistic violence. The film only approaches realism briefly near the end, after one has completely lost interest.

Even his best faces are crippled by the awful dialogue and what one can only assume is a complete lack of involved directing from Malick. The film is so forgettable that checking out for 15 or even 30 minutes won't lead to any significant confusion.

Worst of all, the real struggles of the Guadacanal, the disease, the air battles, the Japanese counterattacks and supply issues, are mostly glossed over in favor of Malick's only singular focus throughout the film.

Malick might just be Hollywood's worst artsy director ever.