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recoveryone
01-24-2010, 10:38 AM
Has anyone seen this movie? I was thinking of picking it up.

dakatabg
01-24-2010, 10:59 AM
It is a great movie! Watch it, I still have it on my computer.

If you like army movies, you would love this one!

Gerald Cooperberg
01-24-2010, 01:43 PM
Has anyone seen this movie? I was thinking of picking it up.

Yeah, it's great-- undoubtedly one of the year's best. Has there really been no thread about it here? It's just superbly shot and acted and features so many of the most suspenseful scenes I've ever seen that I lost count. The rare flick that will satisfy both those that go to the movies for cerebral films and for action movies.

-Coop

Worf101
01-24-2010, 10:03 PM
I've wanted to see this movie but I'm torn. You see it's about EOD, explosive ordiance disposal, and I used to do that for a living while with the 5th Engineer Bn. at Ft. Leonard Wood Missourii. Now I didn't have to do roadside bombs or IED's, just old unexploded ordinance on ranges, in back yards etc... I also did similar work in Korea with the 2nd Engineers again, old unexploded ordinance and mines laying around since the Korean war. Part of me is fascinated with seeing something I actually used to do on the screen, part of me gets queasy thinking of it. I always said I'd go again if called, to save lives, disarm mines and such... but the tension, the nerves involved... I'm not so sure anymore.

Worf

recoveryone
01-24-2010, 10:48 PM
Thanks for the info peeps,

Troy
01-25-2010, 09:44 AM
Saw it over the weekend myself. It's OK. 3 stars.

It's not nearly as good as the media and reviewers seem to think it is. The shockingly high 94 rating at metacritic is vastly over-rated, IMO.

http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/hurtlocker

It's a repeat of the same old themes. The thrill, unpredictability and power over life and death in war is addictive. BFD, it's been done better, many times before.

SPOILERS.

I found the actions of new "expert" that replaces Guy Pierce unbelievable. With actions like that, the guy wouldn't last 2 days- he'd either get blown up or be demoted. Each situation he puts his crew in gets more ridiculous, culminating in the totally illogical tactics of the freelance action at the end that gets one of them wounded. It was like kids playing army.

I liked the way it didn't politicize the war, positive or negative. Every gulf war movie in the last 10 years has had a heavy-handed anti-war message, whereas this one felt more like an old-fashioned war movie. In combat, politics don't matter. I found that aspect refreshing and I think a lot of reviewers are keying on that. It IS better than most gulf war movies, but how hard is that? Most of them suck. (3 Kings comes to mind as the big exception for me, but again, it's lack of politicization is it's strength)

Entertaining? Sure. The shoot outs, stuff blowing up and tension-filled scenes were all effective, but I expected a whole lot more.

Gerald Cooperberg
01-27-2010, 11:33 PM
Saw it over the weekend myself. It's OK. 3 stars. It's not nearly as good as the media and reviewers seem to think it is. The shockingly high 94 rating at metacritic is vastly over-rated, IMO. It's a repeat of the same old themes. The thrill, unpredictability and power over life and death in war is addictive. BFD, it's been done better, many times before.
Entertaining? Sure. The shoot outs, stuff blowing up and tension-filled scenes were all effective, but I expected a whole lot more.

Geez, Troy, I would've thought this'd be right up your alley. I agree that it's thematic territory that's been covered before but rarely with this intensity or immediacy. I just feel like every element of this one was working. I'm with the adulators.

-Coop

canuckle
01-28-2010, 01:25 AM
I'm gonna go with Troy on this one... it's an okay movie, but certainly not as great as most of the major reviewers would have you believe. Perhaps I'm just less interested in Iraq than most of the American media, but nothing in the film is all that gripping for me. Yes, war is tough... I'd guessed that long before sitting through this movie. I found that it dragged, the specialist (as Troy said) was completely not believable, and it just didn't add anything to my understanding or views of the universe. Platoon it was not.

recoveryone
01-31-2010, 12:41 AM
I went ahead and pick this up and watched it tonight, I felt it was a good realistic view of what life is in a combat zone. long periods of ho hum and short periods of sheer terror running through your mind. The different ways people deal with the stress and carry on each day.

Hyfi
03-15-2010, 06:37 AM
I saw it last night and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Like Troy said, they left out the political stuff and just stuck to the story. Yes, He would have been killed one way or another and the scene where his own guys were ready to do it is probably somewhat realistic.

For a long movie, it kept my attention and I found I was forgetting to breath at times.

Not the greatest but a pretty good depiction of a side of things you don't think about or see.

It is truly a shame any of our people have to be involved in such a hell hole as Iraq or any other dirtball country like it.

Bring our guys home and let them all kill each other and be done with it all, Israel included since that is the main underlying reason we are in this mess to begin with.