This isn’t as poetic or meditative as some of Malick’s other works, but it does have enough poetic imagery and voiceover that it is trademark Malick. I’m not sure how it must have been shooting this considering it is a period piece with a lot of action set pieces and Malick tends to find moments on the day or outside the script. Maybe he was still a little more in the box due to this being his 3rd film, despite it being the film that everyone in Hollywood wanted to be in. The performances here are really good, specifically Elias Koteas, Nick Nolte, Jim Caviezel, and Sean Penn. It is interesting to see Sean Penn and John C. Reilly together in a war film so soon after seeing CASUALTIES OF WAR. This is also one of my favorite Hans Zimmer scores. It is so well done and sets a template for what we would see more from of him in the future. It is so fascinating that this film and SAVIGN PRIVATE RYAN were released in the same year because they are so complimentary to one another while also being so vastly different. Both have phenomenal A-List casts. Both have fantastic looks from some of the best DP’s in film history. John Toll’s look here is bright while SPR has a dark complexion complete with a bleach bypass. SPR focuses on the European front while this focuses on the Pacific campaign. Both films throw you into a subjective point of view, but in different ways. Both feel real. SPR for how it must feel to be in a war while TRL shows what it must sound like and feel like to run through a battle. The camera moves fast and yet is able to linger so long on specific parts.
