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July 19, 2008 2:15:44 AM CDT

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Stop-Loss Earnest But Flawed

Posted Mar 28, 08 7:24 AM CDT in Arts & Living 

(Newser) – While some critics are calling Stop-Loss, Kimberly Peirce’s long-awaited Boys Don’t Cry follow-up, earnest and, at times, riveting, none of them seem to see it as the definitive Iraq war film. But the picture, about some GIs who’ve completed their tours of duty only to be told they’re being sent back to the front, still “strikes a universal chord that transcends politics,” writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ’s William Arnold hails the film for its strong camerawork—particularly during early scenes set overseas—and performances. “But the movie has little punch,” he writes. And, as the setting shifts from Middle Eastern to US soil, Stop-Loss devolves into “a soft, unfocused story about the moral strain of making difficult choices,” writes Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly.

Sources Metacritic, Rolling Stone, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Entertainment Weekly

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Ryan Phillippe, left, and Channing Tatum star as two best friends trying to cope with the return to civilian life in "Stop-Loss."   (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures and MTV Films, Frank Masi)
Director Kimberly Peirce attends a screening of "Stop-Loss" at the IFC Center, Thursday, March 20, 2008 in New York.   (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
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Official trailer for "Stop-Loss."   (jo51bev (YouTube))

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