The Thin Red Line (1998) [DVD9] [2002]

One of the cinema's great disappearing acts came to a close with the release of The Thin Red Line in late 1998. Terrence Malick, the cryptic recluse who withdrew from Hollywood visibility after the release of his visually enthralling masterpiece Days of Heaven (1978), returned to the director's chair after a 20-year coffee break. Malick's comeback vehicle is a fascinating choice: a wide-ranging adaptation of a World War II novel (filmed once before, in 1964) by James Jones. The battle for Guadalcanal Island gives Malick an opportunity to explore nothing less than the nature of life, death, God, and courage. Let that be a warning to anyone expecting a conventional war flick; Malick proves himself quite capable of mounting an exciting action sequence, but he's just as likely to meander into pure philosophical noodling–or simply let the camera contemplate the first steps of a newly birthed tropical bird, the sinister skulk of a crocodile. This is not especially an actors' movie–some faces go by so quickly they barely register–but the standouts are bold: Nick Nolte as a career-minded colonel, Elias Koteas as a deeply spiritual captain who tries to protect his men, Ben Chaplin as a G.I. haunted by lyrical memories of his wife. The backbone of the film is the ongoing discussion between a wry sergeant (Sean Penn) and an ethereal, almost holy private (newcomer Jim Caviezel). The picture's sprawl may be a result of Malick's method of "finding" a film during shooting and editing, and in some ways The Thin Red Line seems vaguely, intriguingly incomplete. Yet it casts a spell like almost nothing else of its time, and Malick's visionary images are a challenge and a signpost to the rest of his filmmaking generation. –Robert Horton







MOVIE:
DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick
COUNTRY: United States
YEAR: 1998

Cast:
Sean Penn
Adrien Brody
James Caviezel
Ben Chaplin
Woody Harrelson
John Cusack
Nick Nolte

Among many others.

Credits:
Director: Terrence Malick
Screenplay: Terrence Malick, James Jones (novel)
Cinematography: John Toll
Set decoration: Richard Hobbs, Suza Maybury
Art Direction: Ian Gracie
Costume Design: Margot Wilson
Editing: Billy Weber, Leslie Jones, Saar Klein
Original Music: Hans Zimmer


DVD:
DVD RELEASE: May 21, 2002
STUDIO: 20th Century Fox
SYSTEM: NTSC
SCREEN: 2.35:1
COLOR: Color
AUDIO: English Dolby Digital 5.1/Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0/Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0
SUBTITLES: English/Spanish/Portuguese
RUNTIME (MOVIE): 170 minutes

EXTRACTION:
ENGINE: DVD Fab + Ultra ISO
DVD: 1 Full Dual-Layer DVD
FILE EXTENSION: Image (.ISO)
FILE SIZE: 7.5 GBs

Disc Features

Melanesian Songs
Theatrical Trailer







INFO LINKS:

IMDB

AMAZON