10 Best Films Set In The Pacific War

This film is so full of great acting talent that it literally overflows: the original cut of Terrence Malick's epic Pacific war movie was so long that he had to fully cut entire performances by Bill Pullman, Billy Bob Thornton, and Mickey Rourke, among others. The roll call of heavy-hitters that were kept in is still difficult to believe: John Cusack, Sean Penn, Jared Leto, Jim Caviezel, John Travolta, George Clooney, Adrien Brody, Nick Nolte...

The cast list is not the only thing worth watching in Malick's adaptation of James Jones' incredible novel, though. Its beautiful, patient photography is awe-inspiring; its score is spellbinding; its approach to violence is unconventional and moving.

The story is set during the Guadalcanal campaign, which was the first major land assault by American forces in the course of the Pacific war. After months of bloody, costly fighting in gruesome rainforest conditions, the Americans defeated the Japanese.

It was Malick's first film for twenty years, and it had a very long and occasionally troubled production. Some reviewers said that it was overlong, or incoherent, or that the promenade of cameo performances distracted from the gravity of the subject matter.

Again, nuts to that. The Thin Red Line is a stone-cold masterpiece.