The Thin Red Line review

 Number 694 on the top 1000 films of all time is Terrence Malik's 1998 epic-war film 'The Thin Red Line.'

During the World War Two battle of Mount Austen, a group of US Army infantry soldiers are tasked with taking a key position of the Guadalcanal campaign which could be the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

I've watched a lot of war films and I don't think I've seen one as slow, badly-paced and boring as the Thin Red Line. It was a blocked, drawn-out affair with an overly-large cast.

I would say it takes a while to get going, but it never truly does. For the first ten minutes, we are introduced to Private Witt (Jim Cavizel) who is frolicking with the Melanesian locals, but we don't have any reason to care about them at this point. It is only after the ten minute mark do we see any whisper of conflict where Sergeant Welsh (Sean Penn) tells off Witt for going AWOL.

Thirty minutes later, the soldiers go to the war. Seriously. It's a war film and we don't see any war until well over the forty-minute mark. It's a far-cry from the storming of the beaches in Normandy depicted at the start of Saving Private Ryan.

The Thin Red Line also suffered from a severe lack of main characters or any characters to root for. Sean Penn received star-billing as Sergeant Welsh, so you would think he's the protagonist, but the he only appears in a handful of scenes. But Private Witt is the first character we're introduced to, so you might be forgiven for thinking he's the main character, but then he goes AWOL for much of the film.  

Private Fife (Adrian Brody) was originally scripted as a key-player, but much of his dialogue was edited out. He only had two or three lines. And while the cast was dominated by high-profile names like George Clooney, John C. Reilly, John Travolta and Woody Harrelson, their roles were little more than cameos. It was all very distracting and it certainly didn't make me care for their characters, which was problematic when they were in battle. I didn't care if they lived or died. If anything I cared more about the poor Japanese soldiers they were killing.

The two most memorable and best performances came from Nick Nolte as Lt. Colonel Gordon Tall and Elias Koteas as Captain James Staros. Having been passed over for promotion multiple times, Colonel Tall sees one last chance for glory by telling Staros to capture a bunker by full-front al assault. However Staros realises the position is heavily guarded and he refuses to send his men to die, leading to a huge confrontation between him and Tall. Although their conflict only lasts for a few scenes, it was one of the most interesting and dramatic.

Much of the rest was spent hearing random voiceovers of random characters all philosophising about the meaning of war. It all became very pretentious especially since there's no rhyme or reason as to why these characters are giving voiceovers at that particular time.

Terrence Malik was ruthless with his editing, not only vastly reducing Adrian Brody's role, but also cutting out other roles completely - Mickey Rourke was supposed to appear, but only does so in deleted scenes. I do think the film was overly-edited; it is an incohesive mess of random scenes and characters thrown together without any clear storyline.

Big surprise. I did not care for the Thin Red Line. Not only was it pretentious and bloated, but it was also something a film should never be and that's boring.

Captain Phillips review

 Number 302 on the top 1000 films of all time is the biographical action thriller Captain Phillips.

Based on the true story of the Maersk Alabama hijacking, Captain Phillips follows the tale of the eponymous titular character played by Tom Hanks - a merchant sailor whose ship is attacked and captured by Somali pirates led by Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi.) When the plan goes wrong, Muse then takes Captain Phillips hostage.

If I could describe this film in one word? Intense. From the start to the finish, it was edge of the seat stuff. And a lot of that was down to how well Paul Greengrass paced the film. With thrillers, pacing is absolutely everything and some of them fall flat due to bad pacing. There is the tendency to draw out the scene setting or the denouement usually leading to the climax being rushed and unsatisfying. That was not the case here.

The film opens with Captain Phillips speaking with his wife Andrea (Catherine Keener) about their home and family life. They talk about the rapidly changing world and how their children will fit in and that's it. That's all we needed to see. The simple ending was complimented by the simple ending where *spoiler alert* Captain Phillips is rescued by the US navy and breaks down in tears. This left plenty of time for a brilliant rest of the film. 

Captain Phillips and his crew fend off one assault by the Somali pirates only for them to return later and board the ship. Some quick-thinking tactics see the pirates being chased into the lifeboat only for them to kidnap the captain and hold him hostage to safeguard their escape. These peaks and troughs really made the fil nail-bitingly tense. I know this was based on a true story where nobody died, but it was difficult to see how any of Captain Phillips' crew could come out of this alive. 

Least of all, Captain Phillips himself. Tom Hanks gave a magnificent performance which really showcases his talents as an actor. In one scene he is kissing his wife goodbye, in another he is trying to talk down Muse and in another he is breaking down in tears. By the end of the film, both the character and the actor have been put through the ringer. And it was an absolute travesty that he was not nominated for an Oscar. 

Barkhad Abdi was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. This was his first acting role and it was a hell of a debut. Muse is the quiet, but thoughtful leader of the pirates. He is smart enough to lead an attack on the Maersk Alabama, but also unpredictable and scary enough to control the more volatile members of his crew.  He has enough nuance to stop him from being a cliched villain. He justifies himself by saying he is only a fisherman wanting to stay in control of his destiny instead of relying on unwanted help from the Americans. Abdi very much earnt his Oscar nomination. But to not nominate Hanks as well? Terrible.

This really was a great film. It was edge-of-the-seat action, but with real heart. Abdi was fantastic as the villainous Muse, but not nominating Hanks for Best Actor has to be one of the biggest snubs in Oscar history.