THE THIN RED LINE

When I think of films by Terence Malick, such as 'Badlands', or 'Days of Heaven', or 'The Tree of Life', adjectives such as 'dreamy', 'philosophical', or simply 'slow moving' come to mind.

So the idea of him directing a war movie is intriguing to say the least.

From the outset it’s clear that we are in a Malick film, with some dream-like sequences involving a US private (Witt) on a South Pacific island. 

Thankfully we do then move on to some actual combat - an attempt by a US company to capture a strategically vital hill on Guadalcanal, where the Japanese are very well entrenched in their defensive positions.

Malick is happy to devote plenty of screentime showing us in great detail their gradual progress up the hill and eventual capture of it, but only after much loss of life. 

I found this section of the film totally gripping in its brutal reality.

Highlights include Woody Harrelson's character killing himself by accidentally pulling the pin on his grenade, and Sean Penn's character Welsh heroically trying to rescue a dying comrade but in the end only being able to give him morphine.  

At one stage the Captain in charge refuses to carry out an order which he regards as suicidal, leading to his commanding officer (played superbly by Nick Nolte) having to take a more hands-on approach.

Once the hill is captured I found the rest of the film somewhat anti-climactic.  

The main relationship among the soldiers is that between Witt and Welsh, but it wasn't one I could get a handle on and in the end it just left me feeling perplexed and frustrated.

There is a starry cast with (as is often the case) mixed results.  Most of the performances are very good but I didn't find either John Cusack or John Travolta convincing in military roles.

And if you are only tempted to watch the film because George Clooney is in it, be aware that he turns up for literally a minute at the very end of the film to do nothing much at all.

RATING: ✓✓ Good Times