Poignant, pertinent and made with noble intentions, Stop-Loss aims at greatness only to slide into mediocrity. Inspired by her brother, a service member, Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don't Cry) co-writes and directs the tale of Sgt. Brandon King (played by Ryan Philippe) and his unit as they return home from the Iraq War.
Back home in Brazos, Texas, elation soon turns to confusion and tragedy as the tranquility of peace forces King and the surviving members of his unit to face the ghosts of war. Scenes filled with the heart-pounding action of battle consume the soldiers' thoughts as they struggle to reenter the very society they sacrificed so much to protect.
The plot thickens when, on the eve of his discharge, King learns that he has been "stop-lossed," or involuntarily extended and sent back to Iraq. In hopes of rallying the support of a senator, King takes off on an ill-fated road trip to the nation's capital. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Tommy Burgess, King's junior comrade and fellow post-war refugee.
The film's most superb scene comes when nightmarish daydreams spur King to visit former subordinate and amputee Private Rico Rodriquez (played to perfection by Victor Rasuk) in a military hospital. Rasuk's portrayal of a hardworking, bright-eyed, American boy after he has been horribly disfigured by war is capable of extracting emotion from even the most stoic of viewers.
Despite a valiant effort, Stop-Loss relies too heavily upon the compelling nature inherent in the story and not enough on acting or character development to drive its plot. King's vain journey to Washington D.C. was clearly written to build character depth and convey the feelings of isolation, anguish and pain "stop-lossed" soldiers experience as they are forced to either live life as fugitives or return to war. Unfortunately, the movie labors for the better part of an hour as Phillipe lackadaisically stumbles through his portrayal of a one-dimensional King.
Cinematographer Rico Rodriguez's occasionally distasteful use of lighting adds a further air of teen-melodrama to Stop-Loss. Despite illusions of greatness, Stop-Loss turns out to be more an inane product of MTV Films than the tragic tale of 81,000 real American veterans forced back to war.
