Reviews

Stop-loss

Predictable, pointless, and sad

By PETER KEOUGH | March 25, 2008

2.0 Stars

Stop-loss

It took a war to bring Kimberly Peirce back to the screen after her impressive 1999 debut, Boys Don’t Cry. But like everything associated with the Iraq debacle, her new film is a disappointment. The title refers to the military’s Catch-22 bending of the rules by which troops who have served out their assigned time in Iraq return home only to learn they’re being sent back. That’s what happens to Texas hero Sergeant Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe), who’s fresh from a Baghdad ambush (the most cinematically successful part of the film) in which he lost men and accidentally killed civilians. Back home, after fumbling through a speech to the clueless civilians welcoming him, he tries to restore his civilian life while keeping his knuckleheaded buddies from going off the deep end. This part combines The Deer Hunter with The Dukes of Hazzard. Later, when he gets his marching papers, Stop-Loss serves as a what-not-to-do guide for those in that situation. Predictable, pointless, and sad. 112 minutes | Kendall Square

Bad seeds?
Errol Morris checks the apples, not the tree, in Standard Operating Procedure
Leftward ho!
How liberal can the Herald’s editorial page get?
Feel-good movie of the summer
Oliver Stone: from the Hollywood crackpot of JFK to the Republican sellout of World Trade Center
More