Friday, March 14, 2008

Movie review: Stop-Loss

Beware the back-door draft.

By John P. Meyer

Updated 12:55 a.m., March 28, 2008

They're troubled, I tell ya - troubled.

Standing in the badge line in front of Austin's Paramount Theatre to see Stop-Loss, I'll admit to noticing - whenever she turned around - that the young lady in front of me was rather attractive, but I paid little further attention because that's not an uncommon trait for young ladies in Austin (or anywhere else, I'm pleased as punch to say). Plus, I'm not prone to leering - at least not in public.

Then the college-aged guy in line behind me called her by name and they started conversing (I moved accommodatingly aside so as not to cramp their discussion). Soon other people in other lines and those just ambling by were stopping to pay their respects, and I discovered that she was this person, star of another of the films playing at SXSW which unfortunately didn't make it onto my agenda. I say unfortunately because a) watching Kristen on screen shapes up to be a pleasant experience in the course of which some leering might be involved, and b) the film in question: RSO [Registered Sex Offender] has been well-reviewed both by people on the street (many of whom I heard from - as an eavesdropper - while standing in line behind Kristen) and by attending press.

End of aside.

Kimberly Pierce - the director of Stop-Loss - appeared on stage along with actor Victor Rasuk to introduce the movie. Turns out Kimberly saw the Twin Towers go down from her New York apartment, and her brother has served active duty in Iraq, during which time she realized that this war was being experienced by people back home in a way that no other war had been.

From her own experience, she was at first amazed to find that she and her brother were able to remain in regular IM contact - in the wee hours she'd receive a text message from him along the lines of "hey, Sis, what's up?" The same type of small talk (small type?) a brother and sister might have engaged in across town, as opposed to across the globe.

Being a filmmaker, Kimberly also became fascinated by the soldier-produced music videos her brother forwarded to her, recognizing in them sub-categories such as the Toby Keith "I'm here doing my duty to God and country" riff, along with the Drowning Pool "I'll wipe you and your next of kin off the face of the earth" spin. Furthermore, she noticed how soldiers who were home on leave continued to watch these videos, in order - she posits - to keep themselves psyched up for heading back over there.

O.K., I swear I'm actually going to say something about the film itself, starting right now:

Beer and guns: like chocolate and peanut butter. Only non-fattening.

What we've got here is basically the first ever anti-war-in-Iraq movie to cater to good ol' boys. It's got that Urban Cowboy meets Blackhawk Down vibe going for it. Aside from the opening battle sequence, most of the action takes place in and around a fictional Texas burg called Brazos, for which Austin and environs stood in during filming. The characters (on leave and out of uniform) wear jeans and big shiny belt buckles and boots and cowboy hats - even the ladies.

During the intro sequence (filmed in Marrakesh, Morocco), our as-yet-unfamiliar cast of characters - helmeted and decked out in full battle regalia - are manning a checkpoint, stopping and inspecting vehicles to make sure - I guess - that none of them are equipped to blow up their checkpoint. (Which seems like the tail wagging the dog, but of course I'm not privy to the intricacies of tactical deployment.)

Sure enough, right away a beat-up looking subcompact makes a breakneck run at the heavily-armed contingent, pulling a screeching turn and opening fire on the soldiers before they speed away down a side street.

Even though the lead humvee has a big crew-served machine gun mounted up top - and every other soldier in the unit cuts loose with a shoulder-fired weapon - they somehow miss hitting the little car (perhaps because it's so dang little) and are forced to give chase.

It's here where events become a bit difficult to swallow, because the hotly-pursuing two-vehicle unit follows the suspect car into a blind alley hemmed in by high-roofed buildings over the top of which the soldiers have performed no recon. I mean, it was clear to me that this was shaping up to be an ambush, and I'm just a humble scribbler.

But I guess in the heat of battle such things must happen, and they certainly do in this particular fictionalized instance, as the unit led by Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) forges ahead down the alley after the wiley pot-shooters, leaping from their humvees and proceeding in orderly fashion down the alley - lined up one behind the other and doing a great job of covering visible windows and doors, but a lousy one of figuring out that a rat's nest of attackers are poised to fire down on them (with small arms and RPGs) from the rooftops above. Which they do.

Aside from the fact that this setup seems muddle-headed, the shootout sequences are amazingly gripping and realistic- some of the best I've seen. The sense of confusion as soldiers dodge in and out of residential spaces (populated by both civilians and combatants) is palpable, as is the unsettling realization that you can't tell the good guys from the bad ones - leading to dire results whether one decides to open fire or hold it. I'm guessing urban warfare must really be like that.

Anyway, several soldiers in the unit led by Sgt. King are killed in the melee, and one - Rico Rodriguez (Mr Rasuk) - is badly injured. The entire unit (many of whom are from Brazos) travel home for some much-needed R&R.

"Is that nothing in your pocket, or are you just indifferent about seeing me?"

But all is not well with our servicemen on leave, as evidenced by the fact that a) Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) can't get it up for his fiancee and spends the night digging a foxhole in his front lawn, and b) Tommy Burgess (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) drinks to excess, smashes storefront windows and drives into trees, and c) the good Sgt. King - who's been feted with a parade and hailed as a hero - starts having waking dreams about the battle and sees uniformed men floating at the bottom of motel pools.

As Steve's fiancee Michelle (played by delectable Aussie Abbie Cornish, essaying a Texas drawl) puts it: "What in the Hell happened to these guys?"

C'mon, baby - war happened, O.K.?

In addition to his psychic tribulations, Brandon's having contractual problems as well. He was due to be discharged from active duty, but there's this stipulation allowing involuntary extension of enlistment known as stop-loss which the military selectively applies to soldiers in order to extend their tours of duty. Kind of a "back-door draft," as John Kerry referred to it during the 2004 presidential campaign.

The last half of the film focuses on Brandon as he tries to work out a way to avoid returning to combat. Accompanying him on his cross-country journey to find a solution is Michelle, who proves pretty handy behind the wheel of an old Chevy Impala and acquits herself well at downing shots of tequila - though her accent does begin to suffer after about the third one.

Maybe it simply pales by comparison to another Iraq war film I saw earlier in the day, but Stop-Loss lost me after that gripping initial action sequence.

IS THIS BRAZOS OR CRAWFORD?: "We're over there killing 'em in Iraq so we don't have to kill 'em in Texas." - Steve Shriver to assembled townsfolk

POPULAR SENTIMENT: "All due respect, sir - f**k the president." - Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) to Lt. Col. Boot Miller (Timothy Olyphant), on being informed that the president has the authority to extend his enlistment

SAGEBRUSH ADVICE: "Shut up and drink - we're both f**ked." - Michelle to Brandon, downing a shot of tequila

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