Review of The Thin Red Line (1998) by Ben F — 12 Dec 2010

What people don't understand about "The Thin Red Line" is that it's more of a character study than a war film. A lot of people don't like this movie, maybe because they think it's boring or not intense enough, but the truth of the matter is, this film is perfect in every way. It's emotionally daring and extremely heart-felt. It's a wonderful work of cinema in every way imaginable.

The movie takes a look at several soldiers stories as they advance on an island to fight Japanese soldiers during World War II. As the movie progresses, we hear several narrations from different people. The movie does a brilliant job at keeping the audience attached with the characters. You really feel for everyone in this movie...and it's quite beautiful that the film was made in this way. It's something thats not really seen that much...and this movies style proves Malick's integrity and uniqueness.

The acting in this movie is pretty good. There are a few people that really didn't need to be in this movie, but it seems that a lot of actors wanted to be apart of Malick's return. John Travolta and George Clooney are examples of two actors who didn't have to be in this film, because they have a total of 5 minutes of film time. But it doesn't matter because they don't take anything good away from the movie as a whole The actors in this movie that are worth paying attention to are Sean Penn and Jim Caviezel. These guys were both excellent and the emotions that they convey on the screen really channel to the audience well.

The movie flows in such a sophisticated way. Malick uses such careful composition when brushing the strokes for each individual sequence. Everything seems to have a purpose and as the movie progresses, you get a perfect understand of his goal and objective with this film...it's truly wonderful.

The cinematography in this film is excellent. We have beautiful landscape shots, and ocean shots, and at the same time intense battle sequences which stop your heart, in hopes that everyone will make it out okay. It's really a beautiful display to look at.

Hans Zimmer as usual gives us a beautiful composition. The amazing soundtrack helps put the pieces together to make this movie compassionate, and aesthetically brilliant. Everything about this movie just works.

Like I said, it really is just a fascinating piece of cinema. Malick did an unbelievable job in this movie, and the wonderful performances by the actors help make the move what it is. It's an interesting look on war, as well as a ingenious study of the soldiers who fought in it, displaying and conveying there thoughts and feelings. This movie is beautiful, and it needs to be seen.