I saw The Thin Red Line last night. IT is quite long and contains moments of sheer genius.
However, it tried to be too many things and didn't link them together well enough -- perhaps the aim was to be disjointed
and rough, in which case it succeeded admirably. Unlike Cellar, I did like Nick Nolte's performance. And I thought that
Sean Penn was excellent in his role. Come to think of it, there weren't really any bad performances. And I Can see why
Terrence Malick is so highly thought of -- but I think that in the long run this movie was more miss than hit.
Not enough consistent empathy, for a movie that's supposed to evoke it. Without the empathy for this group of combat
soldiers, the thin armature which holds this movie together -- a plot line that moves through the story like a four
dimensional corkscrew -- fell apart for me. I may see it again -- some of it, as I said, was excellent -- but
I was disappointed.
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