Stop-Loss is a pretty hard hitting movie about soldiers adjusting to life outside of the army after witnessing the tragedies and the losses they have experienced in the war. The opening scene was very well shot and portrayed the realism of the war quite intensely. Brandon quietly realizing what he had done was effective. The visuals did bring some authenticity to quite a weak screenplay.

The whole topic of PTSD and stop-loss is one that many young men might want to look into before joining the military. This isn't the most effective movie for that due to some of the writing that is its own downfall, but it certainly isn't the worst. The performances were really well this film excelled. Ryan Phillippe is brilliant as the lead solider being drafted back and watching how he copes with this bought the movie to life for me. Channing Tatum and and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were also incredible. I was incredibly sad watching Levitt deteriorate as he did, it was a real powerful performance from him.

The middle act did feel a little uneven at times and I was not quite sure where the director was heading with it. Ultimately it did fall short in the end as I just couldn't connect with the decision Brandon made. It felt like an easy option to take, and I failed to understand why he chose what he did.

Stop-loss started off powerful with stunning visuals and a decent middle that slowly went downhill with weak screenplay and weak direction.

6/10