 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. He tells the story solemnly, in three parts, with a big-deal cast (Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, John Cusack) and a few other major stars (John Travolta, Woody Harrelson, George Clooney) dropping by for cameos. After an Edenic prelude, in which a boyishly idealistic absent without leave soldier, Pvt. Witt (Jim Caviezel), swims with native youths to the accompaniment of a heavenly children's choir, the first part sees the arrival of the Allied forces on the island, introduces the principal characters (none of whom amounts to a genuine protagonist), and lays out the movie's geographical and philosophical terrain. The centerpiece--the fighting--goes on for over an hour and features the most frantic and harrowing sequences, chiefly the company's initially unsuccessful frontal assault on a Japanese hilltop bunker.
 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