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The Thin Red Line

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The Thin Red Line (film): Trolling for Oscars, I think this is too long and has too many characters@netflixr1003d

As a rather big WW2 film fan, how I managed to not see this film until last night is a real mystery to me. I can only guess that it happened because it is 3.5 hours long and it came out during a time in my life when I was concerned about college, girls, and beer a lot more than I was about seeing the latest Sean Penn film.

To call this a "Sean Penn" film isn't really even true because even though he is the only member of the cast that isn't mentioned in alphabetical order in the credits, he isn't really the star of the show. There are so many stars in this movie that it is quite difficult to state who the main character even is.

It's a decent film but honestly, from a "how is this moving flowing" point of view I feel as though it could have been at least an hour shorter than it was and while I appreciate the grand scope of it and how difficult it must have been to make, I dare say that I was actually quite bored a lot of the time that I was watching it.

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I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for director Terrence Malick to manage all of these celebrities and their egos all at once. I would imagine it was rather maddening especially with Sean Penn in the mix. Perhaps that is why Sean Penn is featured so prominently in the credits even though I believe he actually has considerably less screentime than several other people in this movie.

Some of the appearances of stars in this movie such as John Travolta and Woody Harrelson are so brief that their presence is merely a cameo and is actually a bit distracting as far as the overall plot is concerned. I think maybe the introduced so many stars so that the audience would have to keep guessing who is going to get killed and who isn't. When you have a definitive star in a film, it is normally quite clear who is going to come out on top in the end.

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I'll give credit where credit is due: The cinematography and location scouting in this movie is absolutely wonderful... well, at least for the parts where there is some sort of combat or anticipation of combat. I am actually quite surprised that they were able to make this movie for a little as they did (under $60 million) when you consider the immense scope of the various locations as well as the rather huge amounts of pyro and extras that would have to be coordinated to make the battle scenes actually work.

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one thing I could have done without and I think was actually the entire point of the film, is that this movies is moreso about the overall philosophy of war, rather than being about any real eventful battle that took place in particular. It IS in fact based on a real event, but the characters are all made up and this is based on a mostly fictional book that was written in the 60's.

I'm all for there being aspects of a movie that focus on the psychological effects that war has on individuals, but at times it seemed so deep that it was approaching the point of becoming confusing. Also, the amount of flashbacks and changes of scenery that take place are sometimes abrupt and don't really make a great deal of sense as far as what is going on in the moment. We'll be in a trench tucked below machine gun fire and all of a sudden Jack Bell (Ben Chaplin) has a 15 minute flashback to hanging out with his wife. I'm exaggerating there, it isn't that long, but I felt that this was more distracting than leading to the real story the 11th or so time that it happened. We get it ok? you miss your wife and would rather be there with her rather than getting fired at by machine guns - which is perfectly understandable.

I think if there were any standout roles in this it wouldn't be Sean Penn who acted just like you would expect Sean Penn to act. The person who did the best in my mind was Nick Nolte as Colonel Tall.

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The rather ruthless manner in which he sends his soldiers to almost certain death in order to obtain a glorious victory is heartless and this is supplemented by how he seems rather unconcerned about the deaths after the fact and focuses on his own glory and how he is going to recommend the survivors for various awards shows a lot about what kind of man this fictional person is. One line he says is "I'm going to recommend you for the silver star and what the hell, we'll throw a purple heart in there as well."

The meaninglessness of these awards is kind of exhibited when the men who saw their friends get blown to bits is on full display here when they barely react to hearing news that they are eligible for 2 of the highest awards available in the US Military.

As expected and as I am sure was intended before they even green-lit this picture was when it was nominated for almost every category at the Academy Awards. It failed to win any of them though and I was happy to see that. There are some movies out there that you can just tell were created in an effort to win Oscars, perhaps focused on that a bit more than making sure the film was actually entertaining.

The general public I think begrudgingly rates this as one of the best war films ever made but it still stands at normally below 7/10 on most scales and while I didn't read into it, I think it is probably for reasons that are similar to my own.

At the end of this film I can't say exactly what it was about. I mean it was obviously about the Pacific aspect of WW2, but other than that.... huh?

Should I watch it?

I expect to catch some flak for this but honestly, I really don't think you should. As far as epic war movies are concerned this one really didn't ring well with me. While I avoided looking at my phone because I never bring my phone to my bed with me, I did find myself checking to see how much of the movie was left and was kind of disappointed when I saw that I had nearly 2 hours remaining, then an hour 20 and I'm just like "can we wrap this up already?"

I think there are a lot of better choices out there than this one and I believe they stacked the deck by including basically every single male superstar that existed in 1998 and even included a couple that were sort of outliers that hadn't done anything of note in a while like John Cusack and John Travolta.

That being said this film holds a place in cinematic history even if I personally don't really think it is deserved.

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2 more reviews

›The Thin Red Line on Netflix@netflixr2057d
I'm a big fan of war movies, particularly those that take an artistic approach or attempt to recreate real situations that actually happened. While The Battle of Mount Austen is an actual event that took place during World War II, the accounts and all of the characters are complete works of fiction. It doesn't really matter though, because this film is a masterpiece.

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For one thing, just have a look at that cast. The Thin Red Line was a movie in 1998 that starred just about everyone who was relevant during that point in time. There were so many stars in this movie actually, that Bill Pullman and Mickey Rourke actually were in the film but their footage was cut in the end because the film ended up being 5 hours long. No matter how good something is, that is way too much time for a movie.

I can't believe that they were able to make this film including very realistic looking battle scenes as well as hire all of the actors for it for the price tag that they paid. The entire movie was made for just a bit over $50 million. These days we end up with romantic comedies that star just two big names and take place on sound stages and the cost of the film is double that much. Hell, The Rock pulls in $20 million per film in his salary alone.

I don't know how or why all of these people were willing to work for what I have to presume was very little money (in their world anyway) but they pulled it off. John C. Reilly is almost unrecognizable because he isn't there for comedic interlude and is ripped as hell also.
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The movie attempts to (and succeeds in) portraying the horrors of war and the focus changes perspective via the viewpoint of many of the major characters throughout the 170 very worthwhile minutes that this film runs for. The fear of men facing a very great chance of dying at an objective that they are told over and over again by a very convincing Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte) must be accomplished at all costs.

Some insights to combat are shown that I think most of us don't really think about too much when we consider what war is all about such as the fact that commanders send their soldiers into certain situations with full knowledge that a certain percent of them are definitely going to die. The fact that some leaders are willing to do this and others aren't seem to define what the military considers to be "good leaders." This is exemplified in a scene where one lieutenant is hesitant to commit to a frontal assault on some pill-boxes (machine gun bunkers) but is overruled by Colonel Tall only to have the mission succeed. When Tall arrives at the scene he attempts to belittle his 2nd in command by standing up in full view of a supposed enemy basically begging them to shoot him.
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The cinematography is second to none and I particularly enjoyed the way in which they show how peaceful the various areas are, along with some very exotic nature, until the bullets start flying.

A level of compassion and understanding, perhaps we can call it humanity, is revealed in parts where Japanese soldiers have surrendered and are mourning the deaths and injuries of their friends as well revealing that although we are on different sides, nobody that is there actually wishes to kill or be killed.
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The moments where the soldiers reflect on their lives back in the States is also touching, because we all know the old statement of someone's life "flashing before their eyes" and it is really tragic to see director Terrence Malick attempting to exhibit exactly that during multiple times in the film.

Should I watch it?
If you are one of the people out there like me, that somehow managed to miss this back when it was released in 1998, which I am presuming many people did because it was not a blockbuster hit, you really need to get on this right away. This is a different way of showing a war film and it has so many outstanding performances that it is difficult to even try to identify who did the best because everyone does incredibly well.

This is one of the best films I have seen in 2020 and I'm a little ashamed of myself that it took me 22 years to see it. It is available in most regions on Netflix now.

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›The Thin Red Line / La Delgada Línea Roja(1998) , una película balística acerca de lo absurdo de la guerra.@miguelpeliculas2195d
Esta película no es la típica del género balística, Terrence Malick, su director, nos relata una historia durante la batalla de Guadalcanal, en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, enfocándose principalmente en sus personajes y los daños que conllevan en el humano ser parte de un guerra, tanto emocionales, psicológicos e incluso como afecta su vida personal, tratando temas de infidelidad y divorcio.

Con un ritmo algo lento y reflejando la verdadera realidad de la guerra, con muertes instantáneas, sin grandes discursos, donde las batallas se plantean con más estrategia y no con héroes que aniquilan a "los malos" solo por demostrar que son lo más, el director nos muestra los humanos durante la guerra, el miedo antes y después de la batalla, los superiores siendo envían soldados a morir, en fin, la peor cara de la invención humana: LA GUERRA.

Fuente

Sinopsis segun FilmAffinity

"Año 1942, en plena Segunda Guerra Mundial en la Isla de Guadalcanal, en el Pacífico. Un grupo de hombres de la compañía de fusileros del ejército americano "C de Charlie" combate contra el ejército japonés por la conquista de una estratégica colina. Este grupo forma parte de las tropas enviadas para relevar a las unidades de infantería de la Marina, agotadas por el combate."

Fuente

Todo comienza en un paraíso. La primera visión de la película nos muestra a Robert Witt (Jim Caviezel) en una isla desierta conviviendo con sus nativos, unos indígenas que no han tenido contacto con el mundo exterior y que a pesar de todo temen al soldado americano.

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Luego sufre un golpe de realidad y se encuentra cara a cara con el sargento Welsh (Sean Penn), quien durante toda la película será una figura paterna y un "amigo" para Witt, que sin entenderlo del todo, lo respetará.

Continúa la película, vemos los superiores planeando y tomando decisiones y posterior nos internamos en la barca que llega los soldados hacia su destino, la isla de Guadalcanal, donde tendrán que enfrentarse a la feroz defensa del Imperio Japonés, quienes ya estaban asentados en la isla y que era indispensable para sus planes en la guerra.

Fuente

Ya en tierra el desembarco es un poco desordenado y la historia se centra en los demás integrantes del batallón, mostrándonos así el colectivo, un conjunto de personas con miedos y diferentes problemas, internándose en lo desconocido.

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Se encuentran en su ascenso hacia el destino con cadáveres, heridos recientes e incluso con nativos de la isla.

Observamos ya un pelotón asustado, un sargento con tanto miedo y nerviosismo que "se hace volar" el mismo, un personaje que ha perdido la cordura y crudas imágenes de guerra, donde mueren personajes solo con explorar el camino hacia su destino.

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La historia transcurre hasta la llegada de algunos integrantes del pelotón a los bunkers, donde se enfrentan con el ejército japonés. Antes de esto vemos al Capitán Staros (Elias Koteas) enfrentarse a sus superiores para así salvar a los soldados de su batallón, ser reprendido y ser asignado a la misión de los bunkers.

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Cuenta con un elenco simplemente genial, con actores como Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, George Clooney, Jared Leto, entre otros. Todos los mencionados hacen de esta película una obra maestra dramática.

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El soundtrack y la ambientación tienen mucho que ver en lo imponente de la película. Podemos observar pasajes paradisíacos hermosos y campos de guerra con cadáveres enterrados. Al igual la música ayuda a ambientar muy bien la película, en escenas como el ascenso a la colina, utilizan música de suspenso, que va muy bien con el sentir de lo personajes.

Ya para finalizar el ritmo de la película es muy lento y en algunos momentos perdía el hilo de la historia porque me distraía en algunos momentos que considere aburridos, pero no por eso deja de ser una obra maestra

Mi calificación para esta película:

7.0 / 10.0

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Should I watch it?

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2 more reviews

Should I watch it?

Sinopsis segun FilmAffinity

Mi calificación para esta película:

7.0 / 10.0