Stop-Loss (2008)
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A soldier's attempt to escape the military's controversial 'stop-loss' policy leads him on a desperate journey to reclaim his life from the scars of war.
The story
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Brandon King and his squad operate in Tikrit during the Iraq War. After a harrowing ambush leaves several soldiers dead and others wounded, the survivors return home to Texas. While his comrades struggle with the psychological toll of combat, Brandon faces a devastating reality: under the government's 'stop-loss' policy, he is ordered back to active duty in Iraq despite having completed his service. Refusing to return to the front lines, Brandon goes AWOL, embarking on a journey with his friend Michelle to find a way out of the military's grip while battling his own burgeoning symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
During the Iraq War, Staff Sergeant Brandon King's squad is ambushed in Tikrit. Brandon survives but is haunted by the death of his comrades and the accidental killing of civilians. Back in Texas, Brandon and his friend Steve Shriver struggle with the aftermath of war; Steve suffers from severe PTSD, while Brandon's friend Tommy becomes addicted to alcohol. When the military invokes the 'stop-loss' policy, Brandon is ordered back to Iraq. He goes AWOL and travels toward Washington, D.C. with Michelle, who is trying to help him. Along the way, Brandon experiences hallucinations and visits a wounded comrade, Rico Rodriguez. He encounters Steve, who has voluntarily re-enlisted to find purpose. After Tommy commits suicide, Brandon and Steve have a physical confrontation at his grave. At the Mexican border, Brandon realizes the war will follow him regardless of his location. The film concludes with Brandon and Steve sitting together on a bus full of soldiers returning to the war.
- First release year
- 2008
- Runtime (minutes)
- 112
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Kimberly Peirce
- Writers
- Kimberly Peirce · writer; Mark Richard · writer
- Cast and characters
- Ryan Phillippe · Brandon King; Channing Tatum · Steve Shriver; Abbie Cornish · Michelle; Joseph Gordon-Levitt · Tommy; Ciarán Hinds; Timothy Olyphant; Victor Rasuk; Rob Brown
- Genres
- war drama
- Themes
- post-traumatic stress disorder; war's psychological impact; military policy
- Tone and mood
- serious; somber
- Setting
- Iraq and the United States (Texas, Washington, D.C., New York, and the Mexican border)
- Premise and plot tags
- war; PTSD; military; desertion
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews and was a box office failure, earning less than half of its production budget.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 64% · review count: 143; Metacritic · score: 61 · scale: 100 · review count: 35
- Awards and nominations
- Teen Choice Award · winning films · win
- Production trivia
- The title refers to the U.S. government's controversial stop-loss policy.; Principal photography took place in Morocco and Texas.; The film was one of a string of films about the Iraq War released in the 2006-2009 period.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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