[5]

John Toll’s cinematography and Hans Zimmer’s music will wash over you in an ecstatic kind of way in The Thin Red Line. The shots rolling over wind-swept grassy hills are mesmerizing and director Terrence Malick incorporates many other elements of nature throughout his telling of James Jones’ story centered around Guadalcanal in World War II. The biggest takeaway seems to be that we and the world around us are one.

What damn-near ruins the movie is the onslaught of ‘oh, the humanity’ narration delivered by every dude on the screen. The internal monologues mean everything and nothing at all, reminding me of the plastic bag caught on the breeze in American Beauty — are these movies really as deep as they think they are? Rather than basking in the tone poem this film seems to want to be, I felt more like I was standing at the base of Malick’s soap box. I had to roll my eyes at the quasi-religious slant of it all.

Good performances from many of the men, especially Nick Nolte and Elias Koteas. With Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, John C. Riley, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, George Clooney, John Travolta, Nick Stahl, Jared Leto, Adrien Brody, and Thomas Jane.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score