***May contain SPOILERS***

Stop-Loss tells the story of a group of soldiers who have just returned from a violent tour of duty in Iraq. Ryan Phillippe's character is the head of the group and is set to be discharged from the Army as his contract is up. He unfortunately finds himself Stop-Lossed, a policy which allows the military to impose an involuntary extension of a service member's enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond the normal end term of service. Phillippe's character is faced with being sent back to Iraq again, a place where he led his friends into situations where they were killed or seriously wounded. His anger with the military is the focus of the film and follows him as goes on the run to avoid his new orders. In addition to Phillippe's character, the film also focuses on his friends who have also returned from Iraq. Notable performances come from Joseph Gordon Levitt, as the tortured Tommy who never recovers from losing his best friend in the war, and Channing Tatum, as the Army poster boy who re-enlists against the wishes of his fiancee.

I just saw this film yesterday and I am still going over it in my head. I have been looking forward to this one for a while, as I was curious to see Kimberly Peirce's next film. I think the film succeeded with its purpose, making the audience aware of the Stop-Loss practices and the effect the war is having on our young men and women soldiers. The performances by Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Abby Cornish were all good. Tatum and Levitt were the most consistent, with Tatum doing some of the best work of his career. Phillippe nailed the character in moments, but fell out of sync a few times as you could see him trying too hard. The most standout performance for me though was that of Victor Rasuk, who played Rico, the soldier who was injured and sent to an army hospital minus a few limbs and his eyesight. Rasuk truly embraced his role and didn't fall into any cliches of how you see injured soldiers portrayed in film.

As a whole, I thought the movie was well done, with just a few missteps. It may be an anti-war film, but it is far from being anti-military. It shows the soldiers as intelligent, hard working guys who made a choice to serve their country with honor. It is really the Stop-Loss policy that is being lambasted here, not the military. I recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the subject matter. It isn't easy to watch at times, but it is a story that needs to be told.

I am confused though. There are many scenes from the previews that were not in the film at all, mostly ones between Phillippe and Cornish's characters. I will be curious to see the DVD to see if there was an alternate ending. In fact, the ending of the film was not what I expected...