At the core of The Thin Red Line are the devestating and emotionally charged performances of the all-star ensemble cast with Sean Penn, Nick Nolte and Jim Caviezel standing out in particular. The physically and emotionally demanding performances of the actors are right at the foundation of the films beauty and unprecedented power. The story itself is very simplistic, but the insights into the minds of the characters break it up perfectly and it doesn’t even feel as long as it actually is.

And then there are of course the combat scenes. Malick’s direction is expertly fired in and out of these scenes, obviously essential to war movies. The ambient sound behind each of these scenes are perfecly included which makes it even more dramatic and powerful than it would normally be. Along with the powerful cinematography and glorious camera work by Malick, everything is set for a perfect war movie and that is exactly what it is. A war masterpiece and one of the greatest war movies I have ever seen.

Acted, edited and filmed to perfection. This is the second greatest war movie I have ever seen, only falling behind Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece Apocalypse Now.