Movie Review: The Hurt Locker

I thought this movie was okay. I am glad I saw it but probably not watch it again. The overall story was good. It is good to show the world that all soldiers are affected by their experiences in different way, and that some even get addicted tothe feeling they get doing their job. They need to be reminded when bad things happen, it may very well be the result of someone not quite as in 'the zone' as they should be.

What did I like?
I liked the story. The movie was very well made. The explosions were good. The locations and sets were good. It was a believable movie. The sounds of combat were also good.

What did I not like?
Okay I did not like the combat. Not all of it. The 1st scene they open up on a guy 2 or 3 floors up looks and sounds great. The rest of it just unrealistic to me. When the team meets up with a team of contractors (could have been UK SF as they all seemed to have Brit accents), they got shot at by a sniper who just happens to be in the only building around for miles. His 1st shot kills proving him to be of some talent. I think his 2nd shot kills as well. The good guys all go to cover and are all totally stagnent except for the UK leader who just happens to have a Barrett 50 cal in the car but misses every shot he takes. Not only that but he gets himself up on top of the ridge to take the shot thus ending up getting shot himself. Meanwhile the rest his team minus the 2 other KIAs still have not done anything. No flanking, no suppressive fire, no calling in CAS or artillery, no nothing.

Then one of the main guys gets up and uses the Barrett to take the sniper from exactly the same position! Neither he nor the enemy have even tried to make it harder to be acquired.

Cut to the sniper now and he is hiding in the shadows inside the building and has his own spotter, no average insurgent sniper. But then they both hang out the window to take another shot. Dumb!  On top of that, the Barrett uses a very large round but when it hits the bad guys you would swear they were hit by a 5.56 round. It should have blown the top half of these guys into pieces.  If you are going to bring in "trendy" things such as SF or contractors and "buzz" weapons, then show them properly.

The other thing I did not like is that the team always seem to have to clear their own working area, even when one scene had at least 3 other squads of men around, they still had to clear their way to where the bomb was.  Especially when they were called out to an abandoned factory.  3 guys clearing this place is not going to go down well.  Lucky there was no one in it.

Should you go see it?
Yes.