Day 147 - The Thin Red Line

Day 147         The Thin Red Line [1998]

                          

Screenplay                    Terrence Malick

Based on                       ‘The Thin Red Line’ by James Jones

Director                         Terrence Malick

Cinematography            John Toll

Music                            Hans Zimmer

Leads                            Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody, Ben Chaplin, Elias Koteas, Jared Leto, George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson, Miranda Otto, John C. Reilly, John Travolta, Dash Mihok

Production                      Fox 2000 Pictures, Phoenix Pictures, Geisler-Roberdeau

IMDb                                  7.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes                 79%

This felt like two different movies rolled into one – on the one hand it was another gruesome portrayal of US soldiers at war, with epic fight scenes, gory deaths and yet another Lieutenant Colonel barking suicidal orders at his men, and yet on the other hand it was intercut with dream like scenes of a soldier’s wife and with the individual thoughts and musings on life, men and war. And I don’t think it worked. I appreciate the attempt to move away from a traditional, guns-blazing, gut-spilling war film but it didn’t succeed in the way films such as Jarhead have in showing that wars aren’t all impersonal action. The ensemble cast, and a lack of any true central character, also made it confusing. We would get a monologue from someone and then they wouldn’t appear on screen again, and why does Adrien Brody never seem to speak? There is a lot of trivia surrounding the film that I encourage you to read, due largely to Malick’s direction and process. He cut plenty of people and scenes from the movie, especially as he ‘found’ the film during editing. Personally, I think he needed to go one way or the other. For example, if you take out all the indie stuff, it’s a great war film. And vice versa, if we had concentrated more on Jim Caviezel’s character and his relationship with Sean Penn’s character then perhaps we would have had something on a level with Deer Hunter. Instead what we get is a film that is all jumbled, like a spider that has been caught in its own web. I can’t fault Toll’s camera work – it’s probably the best thing about the film. The acting is good, but you’d almost expect more from such an incredible cast. Zimmer let me down slightly on this one, although the lack of composition helped increase tension so again maybe its Malick who is to blame. Don’t believe the hype about him – as Brody himself will tell you.

Acting                           3.5 / 4

Writing                             3 / 4

Cinematography            3.5 / 4

Music                               3 / 4

HWF rating                  3 / 4