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Sergeant Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe, faring respectably in his quest to be seen as more than just a pretty face) returns home from Iraq as a decorated war hero. His friends Steve (Channing Tatum) and Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) have a hard time readjusting to life outside a war zone but things seem to be going OK for Brandon, until Lieutenant Colonel Miller (Timothy Olyphant) informs him he's been "stop-lossed" and has to return to Iraq. The young soldier freaks and hits the road with Steve's girlfriend Michelle (Abbie Cornish) in hopes of finding a way out.

Big question: Movies about the Middle East have had a disastrous response at the box office so far, but will the "MTV Films" banner help bring younger viewers (or any viewers) to this one?

Skip it: Director Peirce's first film since 1999's "Boys Don't Cry" shares her debut's interest in social issues played out against a small-town American backdrop, but it wastes a cast of promising actors on an unevenly executed story packed with homefront and battlefield drama clichés. Instead of a provocative take on current events "Stop-Loss" plays like a homage to '70s and '80s-era Vietnam films, which only underlines how depressing it is that the same kind of human tragedy is still being explored today.

Catch it: When he learns he's going back to Iraq, King unleashes an angry tirade against the President that seems cribbed from liberal talking points but also demonstrates the kind of fire and credibility the rest of the movie lacks.

Bottom line: Without the necessary ingredients to galvanize young audiences, this noble failure ends up an exercise in futility. Soldiers are dying, the public knows it, the politicians spin it and movie audiences remains apathetic. By harkening to the past, the only thing "Stop-Loss" portends is another "slice of life" movie about the next war.

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