THE THIN RED LINE is a good 3-hour film, but in all honesty would have been a better 2-hour film, maybe 2½. The script just runs way too long and an unnecessary and final skirmish, if written out, would have cut 30 minutes for sure and would not have sacrificed any quality. Characters come in and out too much and some disappear with a snap, just when they were getting interesting, and you never see them again. (And no, they didn’t all die.) But those are just the weaknesses, which thankfully were not dominant. Terrence Malick’s film is more often good, many times brilliant, with some real noteworthy performances, especially from the likes of Nick Nolte and Sean Penn. While this won’t be for all tastes, a number of you should still like it.