The Hurt Locker

[little_legs]

thank you and! impressive, doc carrot that 'hide' tool

 

[Doctor Carrot]

thank you and! impressive, doc carrot that 'hide' tool

I'm going to bask in the glory of this post until some smart arse comes along

 

[Citizen66]

I enjoyed it. I like how it gets across the feeling that you would be suspicious of absolutely everyone.

 

[MrA]

I guess Im the only one who really loathed this film then?!

Nope, I loathed it too, full of American gung-ho hero shite, not even a patch on reality, I understand the need to embellish the story to make it sell but most of it was nauseating.

 

[Geri]

Nope, I loathed it too, full of American gung-ho hero shite, not even a patch on reality, I understand the need to embellish the story to make it sell but most of it was nauseating.

How do you know it wasn't a patch on reality?

 

[fernhill heath]

i brought it from some d.v.d seller in a pub ages ago but lent it to my nieghbour and only got it back yesterday.
he said it was shit american propaganda but hes not too fond of america so i will judge for myself'

as somebody said earlier "worst name ever"

 

[Geri]

as somebody said earlier "worst name ever"

Maybe you should tell that to the person who wrote the poem.

 

[MrA]

How do you know it wasn't a patch on reality?

The military are better structured and disciplined than depicted in the film, bomb dispoasal crews are psychologically evaluated regularly, specialists tend not have another specialism, ie: sniping & bomb disposal, enemy encounters would be supported much quicker. AWOL from a base in a hostile zone would lead to a court marshall.

I was hoping for the film to center on the impact and motives of the men doing the job and the men man planting the bombs, not the usual look how heroic us Americans are witht he odd stereotypical (imcompetant) Brit' thrown in for good measure. Only Dorf Lungren was missing from the line up.

 

[fernhill heath]

Maybe you should tell that to the person who wrote the poem.

maybe i will

 

[Geri]

The military are better structured and disciplined than depicted in the film, bomb dispoasal crews are psychologically evaluated regularly, specialists tend not have another specialism, ie: sniping & bomb disposal, enemy encounters would be supported much quicker. AWOL from a base in a hostile zone would lead to a court marshall.

I was hoping for the film to center on the impact and motives of the men doing the job and the men man planting the bombs, not the usual look how heroic us Americans are witht he odd stereotypical (imcompetant) Brit' thrown in for good measure. Only Dorf Lungren was missing from the line up.

The film did show that they have psychological evaluations, the fact that in real life they might not have two specialisms is neither here nor there as he only took over the sniping when the sniper was shot. All soldiers must know how to shoot.

The enemy encounters being supported more quickly would surely depend on resources being available and how quickly they could be moved. Being AWOL would lead to a court marshall yes but again not really relevant to the story.

As for your second paragraph, I think you must have been watching a different film to me as I didn't get that impression from it at all.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

How do you know it wasn't a patch on reality?

A lot of actual American bomb disposal units hate it and have said that the way the film depicted them is absurd. In fact the guy the film is loosely based on is suing the film makers because of the way he was depicted. The perceived inaccuracy of uniforms etc wasn't really what bothered me about the film though. The fact it was dull is what mainly bothered me.

As for your second paragraph, I think you must have been watching a different film to me as I didn't get that impression from it at all.

Did you not get the sense of "look at our poor soldiers, trying to survive in a bad situation" whilst ignoring the fact they created the bad situation themselves and destroyed the country?

Spoiler: Hurt Locker

I'm glad someone mentioned the incompetent Brit, to me the film painted the British as the barbarians, the bit where he shot an escaping prisoner in the back is evidence of that. It also painted the Iraqis as barbarians, using the body bomb, I got the impression the kid was killed by the insurgents themselves and used to plant a bomb in, not that the child was a victim of American military action. It made the Iraqis look sinister to me, as opposed to victims of imperialist aggression.

It's interesting how different people take different things from films. Someone called me soulless for saying the things i've said about it.

 

[Geri]

What you seem to be forgetting is that it's a story, and not a documentary. It's purpose is to entertain the audience.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

What you seem to be forgetting is that it's a story, and not a documentary. It's purpose is to entertain the audience.

Well duh! However, if she didn't want to make a point about the Iraq war she could've just made up another conflict.

 

[little_legs]

doc carrot, along with some other posters, does seem a little annoyed with portrayal of the war/soldiers/army rules etc.

i have never served in the army and i don't really want to. i've never lived in/through a conflict and i don't wish it upon anyone. i only hear/read about the war in iraq from the news channels and broadsheets. so i will admit that for me, someone who has a rather superficial knowledge about war/soldiers' lives, the film wasn't bad at all.

and can i just say that as an oscar winner, and yeah i do realise that oscars are very much a hype, it was like a gazzillion times better than the fucking slumdog millionaire from last year. i would seriously, if i could that is, hit the director of the slumdog with a frying pan on his head. i certainly don't have an inclination to do that to catherine bigelow.

 

[kerb]

I am not going to read this thread in case it spoils the film for me.

Just to say I want to see this one.

Seriously disappointed by it and would not watch it again. No character depth, plot was shoddy and even though there wasn't that much talk for a two hour film what there was should have been better. My attention wandered and I wanted it to end. How did it win best film?

On the positive I could name a couple of the guns because of my COD4 days though.

 

[Citizen66]

Well duh! However, if she didn't want to make a point about the Iraq war she could've just made up another conflict.

Film is art. If you want to know the reality of the Iraq war you can jump on a plane and go see. Art is somebody's interpretation of something.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Film is art. If you want to know the reality of the Iraq war you can jump on a plane and go see. Art is somebody's interpretation of something.

Which can quite easily be ill-thought-out and/or propagandistic. Not that I've seen Hurt Locker, so I can't say that it is (I plan on having a look soon) but, for instance, Three Kings really got on my tits on that basis.

 

[Citizen66]

Which can quite easily be ill-thought-out and/or propagandistic. Not that I've seen Hurt Locker, so I can't say that it is (I plan on having a look soon) but, for instance, Three Kings really got on my tits on that basis.

Well if it's only 2 hours long it's obviously going to be slanted one way or the other. I thought it was an enjoyable film. If I wanted a greater understanding of the Iraq conflict I'd buy some books.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I wouldn't expect some sort of carefully-balanced documentary explaining all aspects of the situation, no, but there's degrees of that stuff - you can tell a limited story without pandering to stereotypes and myths. I think we had a fair-sized thread on Vietnam films on that basis not too long ago.

What annoyed me about Three Kings was that it started off saying it was an amoral cynical caper movie, which would have been fine, but in the end developed into a group hug with the heisters trying to save innocent Iraqis - the broader message being that even though the US might have gone in with cynical motives, in the end they were trying to do the right thing.

 

[Citizen66]

Spoiler: hurt locker

The film only really focuses on the bomb disposal unit rather than going into the rights and wrongs of the conflict. Some posters seem to dislike the fact that it doesn't accurately represent soldier protocol. I want to watch a film where it tells me an interesting story from a perspective - I'm less interested in whether the soldier is holding the gun with the correct hand and whether a sapper would be able to shoot or not (although I'm assuming they would). As for the Hollywood schmaltz that you describe; I don't like that in films either but this one isn't really like that.

 

[Reno]

I didn't have a problem with accuracy of protocol in The Hurt Locker. I read about about it in the press and wasn't surprised that like any fiction film it took some liberties for the sake of drama.

I did find the film rather overrated though. For all these claims being made about how it gets into the heads of these adrenaline junkie bomb disposal experts, I found the characters rather flat and cliched, lacking much depth and despite being initially nail bitingly tense, the film becomes monotonous.

The big thing about it was that some soldiers go into war for the thrill of it and that wasn't news to me. The action scenes were very well done, but to me it was just on OK war film and not much more.

 

[likesfish]

Theres knowing how to shoot
The theres using a .50cal rifle at extreme range
sort of like diffrence between playing around with some decks and being paid squillions to be a DJ.
solution to that problem is artillery or an airstrike US forces have that sort of firepower on tap. failing that use the .50 on the humveee and turn building into rubble a .50 cal machine gun is a very destructive beast.
Also an EOD team went nowhere without some bored heavily armed grunts to take care of problems .

the idea that a bomb disposal team would take it into there heads to go hunting bad guys.
the idea that a lone US soldier would leave camp in bagdhad if they made it back they'd be fucking sectioned bout as likely as a squaddie deciding to go for a swift half in crossmaglan
its as realistic as ultimate force but not nearly as entertaining

 

[CJohn]

Yeah, massively overrated. No apolitical sub-standard action film.

 

[FaradayCaged]

Definatle did NOT deserve the BAFTA and Oscar for best picture!

 

[october_lost]

Old thread bump I know but I just saw this to see what all the fuss about was. I totally agree with revol. It was the biggest load of toss i've seen in quite some time. Absolutely no character depth at all, the same boring scene over and over "man defuses bomb with slightly more recklesness than the last bomb he defused." I felt it painted the Americans as "ooo our poor soldiers, they're just trying to survive in a hostile land and get home" whilst glossing over the small matter of 1 million or so deaths caused by their invasion.

I've read so much about the tension in the film but I felt absolutely no tension whatsoever, just tedium. The film was as pointless as the war itself, which was probably one of its points but films are supposed to entertain and this one failed in every aspect for me.

I don't normally rant about films, nor praise them too much, but this film was such a load of gash I just had to come online and vent my spleen

There wasn't anything on show that hasn't been done better in the past, and despite it faux attempts at the sentimental it was completely unengaging.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Theres knowing how to shoot
The theres using a .50cal rifle at extreme range
sort of like diffrence between playing around with some decks and being paid squillions to be a DJ.
solution to that problem is artillery or an airstrike US forces have that sort of firepower on tap. failing that use the .50 on the humveee and turn building into rubble a .50 cal machine gun is a very destructive beast.
Also an EOD team went nowhere without some bored heavily armed grunts to take care of problems .

the idea that a bomb disposal team would take it into there heads to go hunting bad guys.
the idea that a lone US soldier would leave camp in bagdhad if they made it back they'd be fucking sectioned bout as likely as a squaddie deciding to go for a swift half in crossmaglan
its as realistic as ultimate force but not nearly as entertaining

best post on thread

 

[alsoknownas]

Saw it 'tother day, Very dissapointed. Same old fair. Nicely shot (that's failing to impress me these days).
Main character both unlikeable and unfathomable. Plot repetitive.
Bold, sophisticated US characters; anonymous, shady iraqis. Boring.

 

[Wolveryeti]

Hammed up shite.