Stop-Loss
If I had to sum up “Boys Don’t Cry” in three words or less, I might say “crude but powerful.” The same description applies to “Stop-Loss,” the long-awaited follow-up from director Kimberly Peirce. The movie chronicles a group of soldiers who return from Iraq after a harrowing dose of urban combat. Peirce wants to show the volatility of these traumatized men and its impact on their relatives, friends and lovers. But she struggles to maintain a lifelike ensemble. The central narrative commands her attention and her righteous anger. Ryan Phillippe, in a workmanlike performance, plays Brandon King, a decorated sergeant who’s ready to leave the Army. Instead, he learns he’s been ordered back to the front lines under the military’s insidious “stop-loss” policy, which allows troops who’ve fulfilled their commitments to be redeployed against their will during wartime. Peirce keeps her camera close in on Brandon’s face, a choice that underlines his feelings of imprisonment and helplessness. He has three options: jail, exile or Iraq. “Stop-Loss” shows a young man’s spirit being crushed. Peirce can’t sustain that power when she detours into the lives of Brandon’s buddies and the women they love. She never zeroes in on the details that would unlock their stories – frankly, a dose of humor might have helped. And her work is marred throughout by stilted dialogue, awkward staging and abrupt transitions. Nevertheless, “Stop-Loss” is an avid and serious movie that shows the human cost of war without deteriorating into a dull political broadside.
LISTEN: Stop-Loss