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Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, George Clooney ... see more see more... , John Cusack , Woody Harrelson , Elias Koteas , Jared Leto , Dash Mihok , Tim Blake Nelson , Nick Nolte , John C. Reilly , Larry Romano , John Savage , John Travolta , Arie Verveen , David Harrod , Thomas Jane , Polyn Leona , Miranda Otto , Matt Doran , Kirk Acevedo , Nick Stahl , Will Wallace , John Dee Smith , Paul Gleeson

The return of director Terrence Malick to feature filmmaking after a twenty year sabbatical, this World War II drama is an elegiac rumination on man's destruction of nature and himself, based on James... read more read more... Jones' semi-autobiographical novel, his follow-up to From Here to Eternity. James Caviezel stars as Private Witt, a deserter living in peace and harmony with the natives of a Pacific island paradise. Captured by the Navy, Witt is debriefed by a senior officer (Sean Penn) and returned to an active duty unit preparing for what will be the Battle of Guadalcanal. As Witt goes ashore in the company of his fellow soldiers, they meet diverse fates. Sergeant Keck (Woody Harrelson) is killed by an exploding grenade. Captain John Gaff (John Cusack) is an intelligent, sober leader facing the destruction of his command because his commanding officer Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte) is bucking for a general's star. Sergeant McCron (John Savage) loses his mind. Private Bell (Ben Chaplin) gets a "Dear John" letter from his beloved wife. However, as the U.S. troops advance up grassy slopes toward entrenched Japanese positions, it is Witt's voiced-over ruminations on life, death, and nature that are the real heart and soul of The Thin Red Line (1998). Adrien Brody appears as Private Fife, the major character of Jones' novel and the author's alter-ego, although Fife has been relegated to a minor supporting role by Malick's filmed adaptation. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

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75% liked it

130,880 ratings

Critics

78% liked it

88 critics

R, 3 hr.

Directed by: Terrence Malick

Release Date: December 23, 1998

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DVD Release Date: November 2, 1999

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Stats: 5,890 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (5,890)

  • moonrivers
    May 23, 2012
    moonrivers
    The WWll Battle of Guadalcanal is merely a backdrop for a look at the nature of men at a time when true nature purportedly reveals itself. Elegantly sublime and respectful, her beautiful imagery shocking because of what it takes to make us see it: somebody's got to die. There a... read morere no real "stars" here either, only moments all too briefly passed with faces we only begin to glimpse and then they're gone, all of us on a scary ride to who knows where.
  • paulsandberg
    May 6, 2012
    paulsandberg
    somehow this surrealistic rumination on nature (both phyical and psychological)manages to become the most real of war films. All of the grass level filming, where you can't really see the enemy... claustrophic and metaphoric at the same time. This is the zen of war - the film r... read moreeally puts you right there, letting you see all the casualties and conflicts and letting you decide which path you would take if you were "enlisted".

    Fine performances abound, and I found Nick Nolte's Colonel Tall to be an awesome portrayal.

    14 years have passed with this film, and I found it fun to see all the actors who just "show up" in cameo roles, like John Travolta and George Clooney.

    My only real complaints about this film have to do with pacing and length. At 3 hours, there certainly was ample opportunity for some judicious editing (many a scene, especially the flashbacks and more surreal material, could have been shortened) - which would have given a tighter narrative; but even that wouldn't have covered the big "breather" that the film takes about 3/4 of the way through. After the hill is taken and Charly Co returns to base camp, the film loses all momentum dealing with the aftermath of the campaign, which makes the then repositioning of the company up river under new and incompetent command, seem a superflous tag - a feeling compounded by the sacrifice made by the film's narrator and "soul". Better if the film would have left out this portion of the film entirely and cut to the company leaving Guadacanal on the LCV.

    Yet, in spite of these obvious missteps, the film is compelling, and its ruminations on the origin of evil and mankind's loss of harmony make this film a must see.
  • fb701560354
    February 16, 2012
    fb701560354
    Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line is a complex, intense, intimate, humbling, moving, and powerful portrayal of war and the moral chaos of war. Although at times hard to follow the storyline, and hard to keep track of who is who and why they are doing what they are doing, The T... read morehin Red Line is a captivating, beautifully shot and superbly acted war film.
  • DreamExtractor
    January 4, 2012
    DreamExtractor
    The Thin Red Line was the first masterpiece that Terrence Malick had created, and to this day i wish I could discover what was going through this incredible directors head to make such a personal and incredible film. The movie is mainly a war movie, but it is also a movie that t... read moreells many different stories about many different soldiers who's lives have been affected by war. I found this to be a incredibly intense and realistic war movie, also i discovered it was released in 1997 so I'm guessing that must have been the year for great war films with this and Saving Private Ryan.

    The story is based on the book by James Jones and follows a large group of soldiers and their experiences with world War II. But it mainly follows their mission to secure a hill held by the Japanese. This battle was called the Battle of Mount Austen and this is a depiction of the soldiers experiences during the battle.

    The plot is one of the greatest and most incredible plot lines to a war film I have ever seen. Saving Private Ryan is my favorite war film of all time, but on terms of story I would say this is much greater in characterization and showing the true nature of a soldier. Saving private Ryan was better in plot and realism, but that is not to say I did not think this film had a bad plot. In fact it has a truly incredible storyline and was very realistic, but its true genius is in the characters and their different experiences they have and I just simply loved it. There is something very special about this story, something deep they are trying to teach us about the nature of the human soldier, and I learned very much about them from this incredible masterpiece.

    The cast is a huge list of incredible performances and their really is no main actor because they all have their equal screen time and each did a incredible job. Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, James Caviezel, Woody Harrelson, George Clooney, John C. Reilly, John Cusack, Ben Chaplin, john Travolta, Nick Nolte, Tim Blake Nelson, and the rest of them were all incredible in my eyes and highly memorable. It actually is a pretty special thing that I am able to remember each character with their being such a huge cast, and that shows true greatness.

    The war scenes shown were incredibly realistic and made this one of my favorite war films of all time. They do not use constant explosions to make this some weird Michael Bay war film that is cheesy and just their for cash. Terrence Malick works hard to make this a realistic and as close a depiction to the Battle of Mount Austen as possible. I simply loved the beauty and genius put into each scene.

    The music is honestly one of the greatest scores of all time. Almost this entire film has just incredible music to lead on this story and its incredible characters. During the war scenes it felt as if I was watching a moving painting due to the art of the music and everything else, just simply beautiful.

    The Thin Red Line is a film that is impossible to describe in a few words if you ask me. If you asked me what its about I will tell have to go on for like 5 minutes to describe the beauty and how it differs from other war films. This is not a movie just trying to give us a good time, its a movie trying to get a important point across to us. I believe that the point is that being a soldier will change you, it will teach you respect, the value of life, and the nature of true war. It is a magical film in a way, I just cannot explain the pure beauty in each scene, the genius in the characters, and incredible direction from a man who has shown us a war film that has never been done before.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    November 14, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    Considering that this is a war film set during the Second World War, you'd think that The Thin Red Line would be a sweeping epic with grand battles and that it would have a great story. Unfortunately despite the sweeping visuals, Terrence Malick just can't deliver with this one. ... read moreI was greatly disappointed with The Thin Red Line. The film, despite the fact that it had stunning visuals, really didn't have anything to offer the viewer. Terrence Malick goes for a visual sense of telling the story with minimal dialogue, and unfortunately, it doesn't work, and The Thin Red Line ends up being a boring film with barely any character development or an effective plot development. The fact that it's a three hour film, and that it has nothing to offer considering the fact that the film is a war film set in the Pacific is a great disappointment. If you're expecting a grand war film with great characters, a stunning plot and a constant sense of dread, like with every other war film as the character try to survive their ordeal; you won't get that here. This film is too long, it takes a long time for anything interesting to happen, and there's barely anything good about this film. The film could have been great, instead it's a disappointment. Terrence Malick is a great director, unfortunately The Thin Red Line isn't really engaging, and you lose interest because the film is stuck in first gear and doesn't go anywhere. If you're looking for a great war film, The Thin Red Line isn't that film. Watch Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan or Full Metal Jacket instead. This is simply a boring film trying to be a great war film, and it misses the mark on so many levels.
  • bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    August 10, 2011
    bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    A great war movie. This is the second movie I've seen by Terrence Malick (first being the tree of life which I like a little bit better). I really enjoyed this movie and it's portrayal of war. Entertaining and thought provoking. I thought it was a little too long but it's still a... read more great movie

    Grade: A-
  • fb1672039553
    August 2, 2011
    fb1672039553
    This is a war movie that doesn't care about "the game" or which side is left standing. Its focus is on "the light" in each man who witnesses the violence. Through their spoken inner thoughts, we see the devastating spiritual toll on the "children" following orders and the ways th... read moreey live with it.
  • shortcartoonist
    July 5, 2011
    shortcartoonist
    Pondering destruction; Terrence Malick's film of war is of a war between man and his own demise and creator. As an example of the horrors and tragedy involved, it is an obvious anti-war film, heavily highlighting its director's eye for exterior beauty with an underlying ripping o... read moref the soul. Destructions of compassion, love, feeling, and purpose are the concerns on display in a war with no path and soldiers losing the humanity that nature once gave to them.
  • fb100001050230219
    July 4, 2011
    fb100001050230219
    Terrence Malick's ''The Thin Red Line' is an emotionally riveting experience. Not only are the gritty battle scenes shockingly realistic, but the film is one of the best depictions of war I've seen. It's less about the conflict between two sides and more about the clash of war an... read mored nature. The emotional connection you have with all these characters is quite incredible and with great performances from all members of the ensemble cast and Malick's sublime direction, this effort ultimately is a truly powerful experience.
  • emilebond007
    July 2, 2011
    emilebond007
    Would have needed a bit more narrative structure, but otherwise, this is a passion piece of poetic beauty and philosophical depths in the middle of a horrific context.

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Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Fascinating! Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
January 1, 2000
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The Thin Red Line is an epic aestheticization of World War II, a movie at once bold and baffling, immediate and abstract. Full Review

Jack Mathews
January 1, 2000
Jack Mathews, Los Angeles Times

A haunting, scattered reminiscence piece, where the mind is allowed to drift through its memories, and retrieve impressions of the beautiful and the hideous, the serene and the hysterical, the banal a...

Michael O'Sullivan
January 1, 2000
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

The thinking person's Saving Private Ryan. Full Review

Michael Wilmington
January 1, 2000
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

One of the most curious and perversely brilliant films ever made!

J. Hoberman
January 1, 2000
J. Hoberman, Village Voice

At two hours and 45 minutes, The Thin Red Line gives ample evidence of suffering all manner of cuts, if not having been simply hacked into its final shape. But this violence only adds to the movie's b... Full Review

Jane Sumner
January 1, 2000
Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News

A painterly, probing and poetic picture of war. Full Review

Charles Taylor
January 1, 2000
Charles Taylor, Salon.com

Dispenses with plot, characterization, dramatic structure and emotional payoffs in favor of the sort of painstakingly composed pictorial diddling that invariably gets critics frothing about the direct... Full Review

Susan Stark
January 1, 2000
Susan Stark, Detroit News

Takes war to a stirring level! Full Review

Bob Fenster
January 1, 2000
Bob Fenster, Arizona Republic

Although Malick hasn't made a movie in two decades, he hasn't lost his touch for eye-catching vistas and the poetics of conflict.

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    • Lt. Col. Gordon Tall: All the sacrificed for me... Poured out like water on the ground. All I might have given for love's sake; too late. Dying. Slow as a tree.
    • Pvt. Witt: I remember mother when she was dyin'; all shrunk up and grey. I asked her if she was afraid... she just shook her head. I was afraid to touch the death I seen in her. I couldn't find nothin' beautiful or upliftin' about her goin' back to God. I heard people talk about immortality... But I ain't seen it. I wondered how it'd be when I died. What it'd be like to know that this breath now was the last one you was ever gonna draw... I just hope that I can meet it the same way she did. With the same... calm. Cause that's where it's hidden -- the immortality I hadn't seen.
    • Pvt. Witt: Are you righteous? Kind? Does your confidence lie in this? Are you loved by all? Know that I was, too. Do you imagine your sufferings will be less because you loved goodness? Truth?
    • Pvt. Witt: One man looks at a dying bird and thinks there's nothing but unanswered pain, that death's got the final word, it's laughing at him. Another man sees that same bird, feels the glory, feels something smiling through it.
    • Pvt. Witt: Do you ever feel lonely?
    • First Sgt. Edward Welsh: Only around people.
    • First Sgt. Edward Welsh: Everything a lie. Everything you hear, everything you see. So much to spew out. They just keep coming, one after another. You're in a box. A moving box. They want you dead, or in their lie... There's only one thing a man can do - find something that's his, and make an island for himself. If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack; a glance from your eyes, and my life will be yours.
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The Thin Red Line Trivia

  • Which actor starred in The Thin Red Line, King Kong, and The Village?  Answer »
  • He made Badlands in 1973, Days of Heaven in 1978, The Thin Red Line in 1998 and this film in 2005.  Answer »
  • What word can go in each blank to make 4 different movie titles? The Thin Blue _______ The Thin Red _______ The Long Gray _______ Walk The _______  Answer »
  • The Thin ___ Line ___ Eye Where The ___ Fern Grows ___ Planet  Answer »
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