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Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the cinema's great disappearing acts came to a close with the release of The Thin Red Line in late 1998. Terrence Malick, the cryptic recluse who withdrew from Hollywood visibility after the release of his visually enthralling masterpiece Days of Heaven (1978), returned to the director's chair after a 20-year coffee break. Malick's comeback vehicle is a fascinating choice: a wide-ranging adaptation of a World War II novel (filmed once before, in 1964) by James Jones. The battle for Guadalcanal Island gives Malick an opportunity to explore nothing less than the nature of life, death, God, and courage. Let that be a warning to anyone expecting a conventional war flick; Malick proves himself quite capable of mounting an exciting action sequence, but he's just as likely to meander into pure philosophical noodling--or simply let the camera contemplate the first steps of a newly born tropical bird or the sinister skulk of a crocodile. This is not especially an actors' movie--some faces go by so quickly they barely register--but the standouts are bold: Nick Nolte as a career-minded colonel, Elias Koteas as a deeply spiritual captain who tries to protect his men, Ben Chaplin as a G.I. haunted by lyrical memories of his wife. The backbone of the film is the ongoing discussion between a wry sergeant (Sean Penn) and an ethereal, almost holy private newcomer (Jim Caviezel). The picture's sprawl may be a result of Malick's method of "finding" a film during shooting and editing, and in some ways The Thin Red Line seems vaguely, intriguingly incomplete. Yet it casts a spell like almost nothing else of its time, and Malick's visionary images are a challenge and a signpost to the rest of his filmmaking generation. --Robert Horton
Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Surround 5.1
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Original Theatrical Trailer
Melanesian Songs
Czech\Danish\Finnish\Hebrew\Hungarian\Icelandic\Norwegian\Polish\Portuguese\Swedish
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Surround 5.1
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Original Theatrical Trailer
Melanesian Songs
Czech\Danish\Finnish\Hebrew\Hungarian\Icelandic\Norwegian\Polish\Portuguese\Swedish
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, emotive cinema; tainted by self-indulgence,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Thin Red Line (Collector's Edition) [VHS] [1999] (VHS Tape)
Comparisons with Spielberg's contemporaneous Saving Private Ryan have been made and made again. Leave them to one side. You must see both these films.Thin Red Line has the compelling quality of not being constrained by a narrative. It really seems to follow the fortunes of a group of men at war without concern for dramatic effect, plot, or any of the things which are so absent from our own real lives - whether we're at war or on our daily commute. Thus the great action scenes happen early on, then fade out. And time after time after time, the viewer is left thinking "does it end now?". Infantrymen in the Pacific must have thought the same. Does this make for a fun, unchallenging evening's cinema? No. If you want one, go elsewhere. But the battle scenes, though different to Ryan, have a similarly authentic feel; and many of the cameo performances are great. Put in the effort and watch this film.
30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pacifica,
By
This review is from: The Thin Red Line [1999] [DVD] (DVD)
This film shatters the standard convetions for a war film and gently replaces them with an intrinsic, poetic and beautifully rendered piece of film making. From start to finish the quality of the photography is fantastic and the director's faultless talent to depict vivid environments is wonderfully illustrated with seamless editing. A scene depicting two soldiers getting shot while approaching a bunker is superbly complimented by the sun peaking out from the clouds just after they have fallen and disappeared into the tall grass. The absolute tension and thick air of the pre-dawn build-up to the attack with Nick Nolte and John Travolta is one of the greatest scenes of tension I have witnessed. Personal narratives and agendas throughout the film flood the viewer with emotions and feelings that you wouldn't normally associate with a war film. The soundtrack here is also one of the film's strong points and effortlessly entwines itself into the path of the edits. Engrossing, beautiful and an absolute pleasure to immerse yourself into.
19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best war films ever!,
By
This review is from: The Thin Red Line [1999] [DVD] (DVD)
This is one my favourite films ever, its a beautiful piece of art, very moving and powerful with an excellent soundtrack. Alongside the artistic message though is some of the toughest and most realistic battle scenes I have ever ever witnessed in a movie, really on a par with "Saving Private Ryan".
Its a testimony to how good the story/script is and the reputation of the director Terence Malick by how many famous actors wanted to appear in the film. Some like Nick Nolte and Sean Penn appear throughout the move, others like George Clooney and John Travola only have brief scenes and others like Nicholas Cage and Martin Sheen were apparently cut out to make the nearly 3 hour length of the film more "acceptable." Some people dont like this film because of its length and that it takes 40 mins before the first battle starts but I feel this mirrors real life, in that you dont flick a switch and something starts and then stops in war, things build up especially battles. We see the men cooped up on the transport ship with the tension building, the beach assault with a mysteriously missing enemy, the march through the endless jungle, passing wounded going the over way and the ever present nature/wildlife which seems indifferent to the wars of man. The locals for the most part certainly do (although in reality, and in some scenes, they did assist the Allies against the hated Japanese who abused their women and made slaves of the men.) When the action begins it explodes, if you like thoughtful interesting films that make you think and that move you watch The Thin Red Line. It should have 10 stars.
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