It has been lauded by the New York Times as “the best action movie of the summer.” The New Yorker calls it “quite a feat. A classic … that will be studied 20 years from now.” And Time gushes that it’s “a near perfect movie.”
Makes me wonder if any of those reviewers even know what EOD stands for.
The latest film from the director best known for the surfing bank heist flick Point Break, Hurt Locker is a duly admirable first attempt at an Iraq war action movie. Director Kathryn Bigelow’s skill at delivering action, explosions and digital mayhem come through, but the film will strike most military viewers as a bit tone deaf.
But that’s Hollywood, right?
Sure there are bomb suits, PackBots, plenty of red, green and black trigger wire, enough C4 to bring down the Green Zone and scores of tweaked out Joes waiting for the bomb squad to see what’s under that block of Styrofoam on the side of the MSR.
And it’d be fine if it all stopped there.
The film’s strength comes from the intensely psychological approach taken by the screenplay, with the interplay between an EOD tech’s studied intellect, selflessness and inherent recklessness moving the action in unexpected directions. James leads his team – Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Spec. Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) –through a smoldering cauldron of daisy-chain IED ambushes, suicide vest defusing and bomb-making terror cells.
And all that excitement is fine. But the movie jumps the tracks when the team gets involved in a bizarre sniper duel with a team of contractor Saddam hunters, sponsors a booze-fueled combatives tournament in their hooch and when James embarks on an impromptu off-FOB outing with a pistol on his belt wearing ACU trousers and a civilian sweat shirt.
[...]
It’s understandable when Hollywood doesn’t get it quite right. They want drama, action and flow so they take some artistic license. I’m not begrudging them for relying so heavily on the bomb suit (I’ve never once seen an EOD tech wear one to diffuse a roadside bomb) or fudge the radio chatter or get the raid stack wrong – there’s no nit picking here. But Hurt Locker is not the “best action movie of the summer” and it will not “be studied 20 years from now.” Some of the scenes are so disconnected with reality to be almost parody. And that’s where a film plugging along just fine breaks down.
It’s a good first attempt at an Iraq war movie that finally does some justice to the men and women who fight there. Maybe we’ve come through the long dark period of Abu Ghraib guilt-ridden films that tell us how bad we are as Americans and how bad an idea the Iraq war was. There’s plenty of heroism, drama and excitement in the Iraq narrative that lends itself well to the silver screen without having to engage in moral critique.
[source: military.com]
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I totally agree – its a shame that when making this movie, that they didnt stick a little more closely to reality rather than ‘Hollywood’. If they had got the facts right this could have been a great movie rather than the drivvel that it now is – it could have been worthy of the BAFTA’s & OSCAR’s etc – now it makes all these awards seem less worthy and those that vote for them seem like ignorant idiots.
interesting take on the subject, count me as a new subscriber!
Movie is good!
I’ve seen it and really like how explosion goes off!
Army will really appreciate it.
Very disappointed with this film. The script was pretty poor and I never felt the characters were ‘real’. Add to that the unrealistic scenarios and the predicable development of the plot and I think it rates as a one of the worst modern war films i’ve seen. I got no sense of emotion from the film. It was almost like watching an old re-run of the A-team. Full Metal Jacket was far superior!
this chick is really nasty. I think she’s cool enough