 According to the film reviewer, what is the central irony of Malick's directorial performance? Convincing at chaos but gummed up when he ruminates on order
War and Pieces No movie in the last decade has succeeded in psyching out critics and audiences as fully as the powerful, rambling war epic The Thin Red Line , Terrence Malick's return to cinema after 20 years. But Malick, a certified intellectual and the Pynchonesque figure who directed Badlands and Days of Heaven in the 1970s and then disappeared, is in a different philosophical universe from Steven Spielberg. They're central to Malick's vision of the story, however, and not specious. A true work of art owes us more than literal horrors, and Malick obliges by making his theater of war the setting for nothing less than a meditation on the existence of God.
 His depiction of disarray is believable, but when it comes to portrayal of the mundane, his narration is occluded
 His desire to stand out from directors in the war genre ultimately fails, as "Thin Red Line" adheres too closely to similar war epics  His depiction of disarray is believable, but when it comes to portrayal of the mundane, his narration is occluded  He relies (overwhelmingly) on questioning in the dialogue of the script, yet the questions are ultimately never answered  His overly visceral battle scenes ultimately fail to evoke strong emotions from his audience