Stop-Loss

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Stop-Loss ★★★ ½ 2008 (R)

Fresh from duty in Iraq, Sgt. Brandon King (Phillippe) and his buddy Sgt. Steve Shriver (Tatum) return home to Texas only to struggle with assimilation and strained relationships due to the war experiences. Suddenly, Brandon is ordered to return to Iraq (the title refers to the military term for extending a soldier's enlistment contract without consent or even a heads-up), setting off a bomb of emotion and leading to an AWOL escape that puts him, his friends, and his family in jeopardy. Director and co-writer Kimberly Pierce, whose brother had been stop-lossed by the army, brings honesty and humanity to a subject close to her heart, and the lead performances are grippingly spot-on. 112m/C DVD . US Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ciaran Hinds, Timothy Olyphant, Josef Sommer, Victor Rasuk, Rob Brown, Mamie Gummer; D: Kimberly Peirce; W: Kimberly Peirce, Mark Richard; C: Chris Menges; M: John Powell.