The newest Iraq war film is brought to the screen by Kimberly Peirce, the writer-director of the Oscar winning “Boys Don’t Cry”. The tone is well-established in the beginning, as the audience observes a squad of American soldiers from Texas, in heavy urban-warfare. The characters show a reliance and trust in each other, created by their difficult jobs and love of their country. Peirce initially intermixes hand-held video footage and still-frame pictures, alongside more traditional camera work, giving the movie an originality and inside perspective on the soldiers lives. Later in the film, the director drops this unique perspective and falls into the same rote story-telling of other return home from war pictures, to the movies ultimate detriment.
Ryan Phillippe stars as Sergeant Brandon King, the leader of a squad of soldiers and lifelong friends. When Brandon and his friends Steve (Channing Tatum; “Step Up”) and Tommy (Jospeh Gordon-Levitt; TV’s “3rd Rock from the Sun”) return to their small, hometown in Texas, Brandon expects to leave the military once his enlistment is complete. When he learns from his commander (Timothy Olyphant; “Hitman”) that the United States is stop-lossing him - forcing him to re-enlist based upon a clause in his initial contract - Brandon does not take the news well. While he goes AWOL to find a way out of this backdoor draft, his friends are having their own problems dealing with their return to normalcy after what they’ve experienced in Iraq.
Phillippe gives a solid performance in his conflicting roles as upstanding soldier and critic of the war. He is very familiar with portraying military men and police officers, drawing distinction in Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Crash”, the 2004 Best Picture Academy Award winner. Phillippe has good material to work with in this role, having disorienting flashbacks along with conflicted emotions about his duty. Another convincing performer is Abbie Cornish (“Elizabeth: The Golden Age”) as Steve’s girlfriend, Michelle. She is a rough and tumble Texas tomboy, who maintains her sensuality while she blends in with the boys. An undercurrent of attraction is hinted at between Michelle and Brandon, especially during the sergeants run from the law.
The problems with the movie begin to occur halfway in, when the story of a disillusioned soldier on the run seems to lose its bearings. Brandon’s trip to Washington D.C. takes seemingly forever, with too many unrelated pit-stops. The momentum of the story stalls, as the audience loses track of where the protagonist is and why he’s there. The director overemphasizes how messed up psychologically Brandon is, beating the audience over the head with the moral that military men need counseling after they return home. Brandon’s ultimate decision at the end is understandable even though why he made it at that particular point in the story, is not. While “Stop-Less” is a decent picture that deals with America’s mixed feelings about the war, it is still not the definitive picture audiences have been waiting for.
Rated R for graphic violence and pervasive language.
