In the film, Sgt Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) is stop-lossed after coming home from Iraq. Tired of the war and not wanting to go back after such a costly battle in Tikrit, he tries to fight the order by going AWOL. The movie follows his pursuit to find a way out while illustrating the difficulties faced by soldiers when they get home and try to reconcile themselves with their actions.

It's an issue worth examination, and the movie does an excellent job of bringing the plight of the soldiers to life. However, Peirce's desire to get the story out there while the issue is fresh, rather than waiting until more perspective can be achieved, results in a film that feels shallow and unbalanced. The first half of the movie features intense battle scenes and intimate portrayals of small town Texas life for returning soldiers, each quite effectively. The movie then morphs into a road movie after King goes AWOL with his best friend's fiancée Michelle (Abbie Cornish) along for the ride as support. The two experience different misadventures as King tries to find a way out of his predicament, including a very stirring visit with a disfigured soldier from King's unit played by Victor Rasuk.

The problem is that while these different scenes on the road may be accurate depictions of experiences faced by returning soldiers, and may be effective on their own, they don't quite mesh well with one another or the earlier parts of the film. Worse, they're the types of scenes that have popped up in several other war films throughout the years, and thus can't help but feel familiar and cliché. The result is a film that feels high on issues and ideas, low on story and originality.

Despite that which Stop-Loss does well, overall it feels like a movie rushed out to express an opinion and highlight an issue, before a solid story could be constructed around it. As a result, Peirce's well-meaning and otherwise solid film fails to command attention. If you see it, it won't be a waste of your time, but it isn't a movie worth making an effort to see if you're not already interested. So we continue to wait for an Iraq movie worth the import its subject matter automatically gives it.

Directed by: Kimberly Peirce

Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ciarán Hinds, Timothy Olyphant, Victor Rasuk, Rob Brown