Review of The Thin Red Line (1998) by Conner R — 16 Mar 2011

I have now seen this over three times and I finally feel like I have come to understand what is being said. Now this was my first exposure to Terrence Malick, so it was hard to see past the endless voice-overs and overload of ensemble characters.

Now I still say that I have problems with those two elements, but even with that, this is one of the most unique war films out there. It focuses more on the futility of the war, rather than tagging along with one central character and fitting in a giant arch of character development.

We see characters enter and leave this movie at almost an alarming speed. This reinforces the concept of how many people, not just nameless men, lost their lives. It also manages to be more of what we would traditionally see as a Vietnam war movie rather than a WWII movie.

It couldn't be more different from its contemporaries in both style and format. As with all of Malick's projects, this is beautiful beyond belief. After a while the grass became a character rather than just a backdrop.

What really makes this movie great for me in terms of acting is Sean Penn. He maybe has around forty minutes of screen time maximum, but manages to be one of the most complex and captivating characters that the genre has to offer.

Now I'm probably one of the select few who doesn't ogle over Jim Caviezel's performance as Witt, but the character was just too one dimensional for me. In many ways it is the most accurately structured war movie ever done because there is no real beginning or ending, we just get a selection of this period of fighting.

Now The Thin Red Line is still not my favorite war movie, but it happens to be a whole lot closer now.