Iraq War films continue to stuggle with audiences.

"Stop-Loss"
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Abbie Cornish
2 stars out of 4

Director Kimberley Pierce has waited 10 years to do a film since her directing debut "Boys Don't Cry." That film told a strong story with real characters and real heart. Stop Loss has good intentions, but stumbles many times along the way.

Ryan Phillippe plays Brandon King, a Texas boy who has just returned home from duty in Iraq. Along with Brandon, other friends return to wives, girlfriends, alchohol, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Pierce starts the film with a shootout in a housing compound where several of King's men were wounded and killed. The memories of those men aren't forgotten when the troops return stateside.

The film has its own style, some may call it "The Deer Hunter" for the MTV Generation. The film is shot well, but the narrative structure is flawed. The film is supposed to be about one soldiers fight against being stop-lossed, which is the Military term for being placed back into duty after your initial service has finished.

King is the soldier who has been stop-lossed, and he soon flees with his best friends girlfriend to hotels, bars, and in search of anyone who can find a solution for him. King even thinks that a Senator in D.C. will handle the situation. Brandon ponders many solutions, Canada, Mexico, but struggles to find a true answer. He even has a run in with another soldier gone AWOL, who tells him of a man that can secretly get him into Canada, apparently there are more soldiers than people think that have been stop-lossed.

The film and its plot are interesting and thought provoking, but most of the dialogue is forgettable, and none of the characters had any emotional attachment that the audience could grasp. Ryan Phillippe is real good in his part, and Channing Tatum still needs some more work before he is cast as a true leading man. Joseph Gordon Levitt is fine, but this isn't exactly a meaty role for him.

While the film felt like it could go places at times, Stop-Loss seems thrown together and sloppy. Back to the drawing board for Pierce, and any other film maker looking to make a buck off of this topic.