The Thin Red Line stars Sean Penn as First Sgt. Edward Welsh, Adrien Brody as Cpl. Fife, Ben Chaplin as Pvt. Bell, George Clooney as Capt. Charles Bosche, John Cusack as Capt. John Gaff, Woody Harrelson as Sgt. Keck, Elias Koteas as Capt. James 'Bugger' Staros, Jared Leto as Second Lt. Whyte, Dash Mihok as Pfc. Doll, Tim Blake Nelson as Pvt. Tills, Nick Nolte as Lt. Col. Gordon Tall, John C. Reilly as Sgt. Storm, Larry Romano as Pvt. Mazzi, John Savage as Sgt. McCron, and John Travolta as Brig. Gen. Quintard.
The Thin Red Line starts very slowly with flashes of the thoughts of the men in the war. This film is a pc version of the war on Guadacanal. It is in color. It portrays the fears of the common grunt soldier as well as the political ambition of an officer. The Thin Red line also depicts a part of the bloodiest fighting in the Pacific, the invasion of Guadacanal. The soldiers in this WWII (the big one) flic do not behave like John Wayne, They actually reload and share their full emotions and thoughts. After the slow (30 min.) start, we are dumped into the action. Body parts, a lot of blood, and men at their worst behavior fill the action part of this film. It is, of course, for the same objective, the hill.
The Thin Red line is not full of dialog. The acting is good. No actor has a large part except Nick Nolte. His part is a little over acted, but does calm down later in the film. The Thin Red line asks the question, "Is nature always in conflict?" We get no answers or explanations only some very depressing scenes of the nature of war at the individual level. I assume the film makers think we read the book. It is well made, from John Travolta, to the shell shocked Sargent, and to the looney Japanese captive soldier. This film displays the gambit of emotions of men in combat.
This film is not for everyone. It is depressing. I felt as depressed as I did after seeing Midnight Express. At that time I remarked, "I paid good money to feel this depressed?" This film leaves one exiting the theater in silence, "War is Hell!" The Thin Red line is a much better film than Saving Private Ryan.
I give it 4 out of 5 tropical birds: