Stop-LossMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 61 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Even when the script slips into sentiment, Peirce sticks with her troubled, questing soldiers, and through this raw and riveting movie, they stick with us. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Clearly, Peirce's motives are pure. She's not using the "stop-loss" issue as a wedge to make the government or the administration look bad. She's using it to dramatize an injustice and to advocate on behalf of the soldiers. Read full review

  • 70
    Washington Post |

    It's a remarkably entertaining movie, thanks in part to a first-rate cast and a director who knows you can't make a point without calling everyone to attention. Read full review

  • 70
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Stop-Loss is a film that does it right. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    A painfully polite Iraq war drama pitched at the MTV generation. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    It's an uneven experience, with some evocative moments and others that don't resonate as much as they should. Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    Ms. Peirce's movie, which she wrote with Mark Richard, is not only an earnest, issue-driven narrative, but also a feverish entertainment, a passionate, at times overwrought melodrama gaudy with violent actions and emotions. Read full review

  • 60
    The Hollywood Reporter |

    A young cast and hotheaded melodramatic streak make it broadly accessible, perhaps enough so to help the film scrape past boxoffice challenges faced by other Iraq-centered features. Read full review

  • 50
    Wall Street Journal |

    Swamped by clichs, continuity problems, stock characters and very good intentions. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Joe Leydon

    A wildly uneven drama, by turns sincere and synthetic. Read full review

View more reviews for Stop-Loss on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Mature, violent war drama tackles heavy issues.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this mature war drama features some pretty graphic violence, including shootings, explosions, and angry fistfights, all of which result in bloody injuries, broken bodies, and deaths. These images appear both in present-time and in traumatic flashbacks. There are some sexual allusions and rowdy slang; other language includes frequent use of "f--k" and other obscenities.
  • Families can talk about the impact of violent war imagery. Ask kids where they see disturbing images most -- on TV or the Internet -- and ask them how they deal with what they see. Families can also discuss what messages the movie is sending about war and the military. Is it the job of movies and TV shows to examine important social issues and current events? What other movies can you think of that have handled big topics in a similar way? How does this movie showcase the problem of stop-loss? Does it offer any solutions or resolutions?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Characters break the law, get roaring drunk, and fight. In Iraq, soldiers are ambushed, shoot at civilians, save friends, and make mistakes.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: A shooting at a checkpoint leads to an ambush, which includes more shooting, explosions, and bloody bodies. Images of body bags and wounded men on gurneys; flashbacks throughout the film cut to bloody, loud fighting. At home in Texas, two men fight (punching and wrestling). Drunken men shoot at bottles and a snake. A soldier hallucinates that his friend is drowned in a pool. Two friends argue over one giving his fiancée a black eye. A man hits his guards and escapes custody. Brandon describes a soldier's violent death. A soldier is beaten by three robbers; he then beats them and scares them with a gun, leaving with a very bloody cut over his eye. Rico is injured in Iraq: At the hospital, he's scarred, blind, and missing an arm and a leg. A character shoots himself off screen. Two friends fight in a cemetery, sputtering, falling, and bruising.
  • sex false3 Sex: A video of a sergeant's girlfriend is sensuous (not explicit); his buddy comments on her "t-tties." When Steve is drunk, he strips to his underwear and passes out. Scantily dressed women appear at a distance; someone calls them "hookers" (and they look the stereotypical part).
  • language false5 Language: Pervasive language includes "f--k" (in both dialogue and song lyrics), plus "s--t" (with "bull-"), "damn," "ass," "hell," and "busting my balls." Racist use of the term "hajji" to refer to Iraqis.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Honda motorcycle, beer brands.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Heavy drinking (beer, tequila) and cigarette smoking at a welcome home celebration. A very drunk Steve digs a trench and wields his gun, and a drunk Tommy crashes his car. Soldiers, including Brandon, smoke cigarettes repeatedly and shoot at beer bottles and other objects while drunk. More drinking in a bar.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Dave White

4.5

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

… it let the other side off too easy. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

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