Stop-Loss 2008

A.O. Scott, New York Times: In some ways, there is a grim, accidental timeliness in the release of Stop-Loss, which focuses on the ordeal of American soldiers in and out of combat. Read more

Logan Hill, New York Magazine/Vulture: Boys Don't Cry director Kimberly Pearce attempts to anchor the Iraq War debate in the lives of a specific subset of soldiers and nearly pulls it off. But her promising premise runs into a rut of incompatible accents and melodramatic excess. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The power of Stop-Loss -- and this is no dumb joke -- is that it shows its hero between Iraq and a hard place. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Though its intentions are noble, it's hampered by a stock romantic subplot, a familiar structure, and a lack of symmetry. Read more

Joanne Kaufman, Wall Street Journal: Swamped by cliches, continuity problems, stock characters and very good intentions. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Though it's no Boys Don't Cry, there's something about Stop-Loss that haunts you: Peirce has an uncanny way of catching the fierce light in her actors' eyes. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: As in her superlative debut feature Boys Don't Cry, [director] Peirce explores politically incendiary subject matter with empathy, sensitivity, and a particularly sharp sense of place, in this case, a lovingly depicted Texas. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Stop-Loss goes in too many directions at once, and most of those directions are predictable. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: [Director] Peirce wants to leave us with something heavy to ponder, but I'll be damned if I can figure out what that is. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Stop-Loss is a film that does it right. Read more

Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune: Peirce's obvious respect for the returned soldiers should prevent Stop-Loss from being dismissed as a Hollywood anti-war screed. It's more accurately described as an anti-war movie with a resolutely pro-troop message. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: It's more a sweaty assemblage of dramatic high-points than a coherent, persuasive story of wounded warriors trying to make it. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Anchored by deft performances from a sturdy ensemble, Stop-Loss provides proof of Peirce's sensitivity with actors as well as her interest in stories of American folk who don't often get the close-ups they should. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: There's a keen and ugly sense of anguish to Stop-Loss, a caged sense of powerlessness beyond political outrage that makes this film far and away the most effective effort yet at capturing the frustration of the war in Iraq. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Strewn story parts pile up in Stop-Loss, a painfully polite Iraq war drama pitched at the MTV generation. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Peirce (with co-writer Mark Richard) also vacillates between earnestness and superficiality, making Stop-Loss too often feel like eye candy with a message. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Writer/director Kimberly Peirce has clearly done her homework. What she hasn't done, at least not here, is develop any strong point of view about the war. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Stop-Loss misses emotional beats and hammers home its frustration; yet in a week where we've lost our 4,000th soldier, its impatience is a virtue. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Sincere without being especially memorable. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Stop-Loss builds a cumulative power and sense of urgency that can't be denied. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Stop-Loss is not a great movie, but it's forceful, effective, and alive, with the raw, mixed-up emotions produced by an endless war -- a time when the patriotism of military families is in danger of being exploited beyond endurance. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: There are good and confident choices here, particularly in the direction, and the way it integrates the soldiers' own war movies. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Viewers of any age are bound to be moved by [director Peirce's] primary theme: that there is no easy cure for these damaged young veterans, whether they return to war or fight their demons at home. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: After five years of news footage and documentaries coming from the war in Iraq, Stop-Loss is as phony as a re-enactment with finger pup pets. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Brilliantly observed and vividly shot, built on a career-making performance by Ryan Phillippe, its an Iraq War movie for Americans whove been avoiding Iraq movies, even the good ones such as In the Valley of Elah. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: While it would be premature to decorate it as the Best Years of Our Lives or Coming Home of the Surge, Stop-Loss carries the emotional force and propulsive drama of the quintessential soldier's story. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Stop-Loss tries to be about so many things that it addresses none of them adequately. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Clearly, Peirce's motives are pure. She's not using the 'stop-loss' issue as a wedge to make the government or the administration look bad. She's using it to dramatize an injustice and to advocate on behalf of the soldiers. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The story steers away from cliches and political polemics, maintaining a tone of unflinching emotional realism. Read more

Philip Marchand, Toronto Star: The movie is a gripping but very limited view of their lives. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: As a nation, we owe them more than they owe us -- as this painfully necessary and heartfelt movie makes abundantly clear. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: While Phillippe does a creditable job and Cornish is suitably torn by her divided loyalties to two men, Tatum and especially Gordon-Levitt are utterly wasted, used like extras when either of their stories seems interesting enough for a film of its own. Read more

Jessica Winter, Time Out: It's the film equivalent of a weary shrug - capturing the national mood at a moment when we'd all prefer some mood enhancers. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Stop-Loss can't quite decide whether to focus on making a powerful statement on a controversial and unfamiliar military policy or on a more predictable drama about the traumatic effect of war on young people's lives. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: A wildly uneven drama, by turns sincere and synthetic. Read more

John Anderson, Washington Post: It's a remarkably entertaining movie, thanks in part to a first-rate cast and a director who knows you can't make a point without calling everyone to attention. Read more