 According to the film reviewer, Thin Red Line has succeeded in all of the following EXCEPT:
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. 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. He speaks the movie's epitaph, "Darkness and light, strife and love: Are they the workings of one mind, the feature of the same face?
 Creating one of film's most notorious villains
 Overwhelming viewers with bloodshed and prattle  Not living up to its pre-release date hype  Creating one of film's most notorious villains  Maintaining an unnecessarily long-winded tone