'Stop-Loss' faces uphill battle

March 14, 2008 With its morally complex story of soldiers who have served in Iraq, Paramount's upcoming "Stop-Loss" offers a more direct and gritty account of a current soldier's experience than any commercial feature to date. Yet you wouldn't know it from the trailer, which emphasizes a young cast in moments of camaraderie in Texas. Or from the poster, which has the vibe of a "Friday Night Lights" or "Varsity Blues" as much as "Platoon" or "Full Metal Jacket." Such is the paradox of Kimberly Peirce's "Stop-Loss," which, after being moved from the fall to avoid the boxoffice hacksaw faced by other war pictures, holds its premiere Monday in Los Angeles before opening wide March 28.

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