The Hurt Locker

[Malc]

I saw this film on Sunday and it was really good. Probably the best Iraq war based film there is.



The film focuses on Delta Squad with their job being to diffuse bombs or check certain areas where a bomb is believed to be. It's got a lot of tension as well as action, and it also explores the three man squad and ocassionaly questions aspects of the Iraq War, but doesn't really delve into a political statement type of film which is a good thing.

If you haven't seen The Hurt Locker then I would strongly recommend it.

[cutmymilk]

I want to see this at the weekend. 5 Star reviews so should be excellent, despite the fact that I don't really watch war films.

[Malc]

Did you see it cutmymilk? What did you think?

[SuperBeatBoy]

I watched this today. Thought it was brilliant. Shames the over indulgent Black Hawk Down every which way. It was intense, emotional and bloody brilliant. Everyone should go watch it.

[PeteJ]

This is a great film and a fantastic performance by the lead. After district9 and basterds this is my third best film of the year.

I love how the film doesn't get bogged down with politicts and "why we are fighting", in turn it create a much more intense and personal film. Definately not a war film in the normal sense, this is just about the soldiers getting on with things and the story devdloping around that.

Very intense throughout, & very watchable.

[adam30]

I really enjoyed this film also...directed by the same lady who made point break..i was wondering why she had not made a flick in a while and then i found this.
Highly recommended.

[cutmymilk]

Did you see it cutmymilk? What did you think?

Didn't get to see it, but will soon. Watched 4 films in all over the weekend and this wasn't part of the fun unfortunately. Really looking forward to it.

[cutmymilk]

Finally saw this on Saturday and it was superb. I'm not a fan of war films but really enjoyed this. It was filmed a bit like a documentary, but minus talking to the camera and shakey-view. Really enjoyed the characters and the emotional rollercoaster they are all on. If you fancy a bit of army life, watch this and you will probably change your mind. It does a nice job of making everything seem real.

[Concrete donkey]

I wasn?t a fan of this film. For one thing they were so unsure of their own story telling technique (or really thought the audience were that dumb) they had to explain their point or moral of the story in writing at the beginning of the movie and bash your head with it with its ending.

I admire the constant level of dread the film was able to maintain without your standard movie escalation to a big finish but at the same time it lacked either enjoyment (which I understand this movie isn?t about) or the engagement and emotional attachment you get with the more serious movies (like Schindler?s list).

Perhaps it?s because I have little interest in the army way of life and was expecting a different kind of film going in, failing to do any research on the movie before going in (the dangers of owning a cineworld unlimited card). I do plan to see the movie again when it comes on DVD to judge the film on its own merits though rather than my ill informed expectations of it.

[Brats]

I was underwhelmed by this - it felt empty. It didn't have anything to say except for some guys are addicted to war and some guys aren't. It didn't explore the reasons for that or what motivates the soldiers. The film could have been set anywhere - it had nothing in it that required it to be in Iraq. It had no empathy whatsoever with the Iraq citizens.

In it's favour, some of the early set pieces were tense, but by the end they had lost their impact.

It seems that the reason it won so many Oscars was simply because it wasn't Avatar. Three Kings is a far better Iraq war film (although the first conflict rather than the second).

[NemesiS]

Same. I first saw it when it was released and was very underwhelmed by it. The i ended up watching it again at my sisters and thought i'd give it another chance after all the furure surrounding it and still thought it was utterly boring.

[Rossco]

Hmm I rather enjoyed this. Didn't try looking into it for more than it was. Just a good tense film with some good action bits.

[rmoxon]

I was underwhelmed by this - it felt empty. It didn't have anything to say except for some guys are addicted to war and some guys aren't. It didn't explore the reasons for that or what motivates the soldiers. The film could have been set anywhere - it had nothing in it that required it to be in Iraq. It had no empathy whatsoever with the Iraq citizens.

I enjoyed this but I agree, it would have been far more exciting and made more sense if it was about bomb disposal on the streets of Stoke On Trent ....

Anyway I dont think a film like this needs somthing to say, its a drama-cum-action film about people doing their job. It actualy annoys me that people expect films to have somthing to say just becuase they are set in places like Iraq, a setting is just that, its where a film is set, it shouldnt completely dictate what kind of film it is. I enjoyed the characters and the dialogue and it passed the time nicley, probabaly not "best film" material but I found it a good fun one none the less.

[dataDave]

This bored me stupid. Apart from maybe the bits with bombs in.

And after installing a load of Japanese sticks and buttons into an American arcade cab I can confidently say I'd be a dab hand at defusing bombs any day.

[Brats]

Genius. Clearly I meant any war zone.

I'm not saying that a film has to make some statement about the Iraq conflict if it set in Iraq, but it didn't say much about anything at all. And whilst films don't have to say anything, the Hurt Locker is clearly setting itself up as something more than just a simple action film. There are loads of bits in the film like

->Open Spoiler<-

Beckham's mistaken death

and

->Open Spoiler<-

the scene in the professor's house

that are alluding to something more than just entertainment, but ultimately fail because they are not followed up and therefore just serve to confuse the viewer.

If I'm going to watch something for pure entertainment value, then I'd rather watch something like Rambo which has no pretensions about being something that it isn't.

But I also had too many questions about Hurt Locker's set pieces:

->Open Spoiler<-

Why does Ralph Fiennes get easily shot by the sniper, yet the when Sanborn grabs the sniper rifle in exactly the same position, why does he not get fired upon at all?
Why does James walk away from Beckham when he finds out he's not dead?
Why do the Iraqis who blow up the Colonel refuse at first to move at first when they have a bomb planted next them all?

It's well directed film in parts, but after winning an Oscar for best screenplay I expected it to at least get the basics right and offer something more than just a vapour thin look at a few men over a few days.