the thin red line (1998) (1 Viewer)

[teapot2001]

Yes, Zimmer was the composer for The Thin Red Line. That was my attempt at humor that fails as usual.

~T

 

[Matt Stone]

I liked it Thi
This is a film that I originally passed on, because many told me that "it sucked" compared to SPR. I finally grew a pair of balls and watched it either earlier this year, or last year...and I was blown away.
Once again, a wonderful film...but definitely not for everyone.

 

[JohnE]

I liked it the first time i saw it. I really liked it the second time. And after seeing it a handfull of times, it's one of my all time favorite war films. There's just something about it?

 

[Marc Colella]

Only 1 word to describe The Thin Red Line...
Masterpiece

 

[JonZ]

Marc beat me to it.

I agree, this film is a damn masterpiece.

 

[MichaelAW]

One word I'd use to describe TTRL is:

MUDDLED

Another one is:

BORING.

 

[Mark Palermo]

There's brilliant stuff in the movie, but Mallick sells out the power of his own imagery by placing academic narration over everything. For a director with such a great eye for visuals, you'd think he'd have enough faith to let his images speak for themselves. As it stands, the film is extraordinarily overrated, but it would have made a heck of a silent film.

Mark

 

[Nathan V]

Wow. I'm surprised at the dynamic range of opinions, just in this thread. I can't remember seeing this kind of extreme response to a film since A.I. (which I loved). Who was it that once said a truly great film will always garner these type of extreme reactions? I can't remember, but I think I'll pick this one up, if only out of sheer curiosity.

Nathan

 

[Richard Kim]

There's brilliant stuff in the movie, but Mallick sells out the power of his own imagery by placing academic narration over everything. For a director with such a great eye for visuals, you'd think he'd have enough faith to let his images speak for themselves. As it stands, the film is extraordinarily overrated, but it would have made a heck of a silent film.

I strongly disagree. The voiceover narration is a window into the minds of the various soldiers while facing the horrors of war, like thinking about your wife or thoughts on killing an enemy soldier for the first time. The majority of the narration are made by a young soldier named Train (not Witt as some people believe), he's the young soldier who confess to Sean Penn how scared he is on the ship. We see that he rambles incoherently, but his inner thoughts are eloquent, and this is where the true essence of the character lies. This goes for all the other characters, and the fact that their souls are being laid bare for us to see is what makes TTRL so moving to me.

I do understand that it can be hard to figure out who doing the vo's due to the fact that several of the characters have southern accents. If you turn on the English subtitles on the DVD, they tell you who's speaking at the moment.

 

[Brook K]

Mark, VO narration is one of Malick's MO's. Badlands and Days of Heaven both featured VO by young women. In TRL, VO serves as both character development, we are hearing their inner voice express things they would not vocalize; and it also serves to mark a shift in POV. We are seeing that scene through a particular character's eyes.

I saw TRL twice theatrically in '98-99 and was blown away. It ended up 2nd on my year end list. I watched it again, several years later when the DVD came out and grew increasingly annoyed by the disjointed, hanging nature of some of the storylines and edits. I also began to see some of the characters, Nolte in particular, as more stereotypical and less interesting. He seemed to be repeating himself poorly in using the natural world juxtaposed with violence.

Later still I was able to see a gorgeous IB Technicolor dye transfer print with the richest, deepest colors I've ever seen. I loved the look of the film in this form (it would be hard not to), but my appreciation of the story became even more piecemeal. Not quite sure where I stand on the film now, I still have the DVD, but I won't be revisiting it for a very long time.

 

[Justin Doring]

In my opinion, The Thin Red Line is a pseudo-Faulknerian piece of pretentious excrement. It feels as if it was written by a high school freshman, as the "subtext" is as subtle as a brick falling on a person’s head.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Well, that's your opinion. Critical consensus suggests otherwise. Again, a case of the "I-hated-it-therefore-it's-terrible" type of view that flies in the face of a film's genuine worth. In other words, it's an excellent film which you simply do not like. (It's also possible to like a film that's genuinely bad.)

 

[Mark Palermo]

In other words, it's an excellent film which you simply do not like.

Nope. It's an average film which you simply believe is excellent.

Oh shit, did I just defy the critical consensus???

Mark

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Nope. It's an excellent film which you simply believe is average.

 

[Mark Palermo]

Nope.