I'm surprised no one has mentioned this film yet. Maybe it's not playing in enough theaters? It's definitely worth a look if you have the chance to see it. iHere's my capsule:
The adventures of a three man American bomb squad in Iraq led by an unhinged adrenaline junkie. Great character development is just a bonus to this thrilling film that thrives on incredibly tense and believable wartime set pieces.
This is the best movie I've seen in 2009; I'm tempted to give it 5 out of 5 stars, though I'm hesitant to do that immediately after I've seen a movie. It was a great theatrical experience, though; it really gives you a soldier's-eye view of some maddeningly tense situations. Just like it would be for the soldiers, there's no way for the viewer to tell which of the Iraqi citizens at a given scene is an innocent bystander, and which one might be set to detonate an explosive with a cell phone as soon as a soldier gets close enough.
I wonder what any of the military folks here think of this movie? I's particularly be interested in hearing Andrew's take, although I can understand if someone who's been to Iraq wouldn't exactly want to relive that experience.
There's no real political content to it, which is refreshing. For the most part, the soldiers were presented as normal people, extremely skilled but not perfect, trying to do an impossible job and just survive.
Highly recommended. My one question was whether an officer who so consistently and blatantly refused to follow proper protocol could get away with it for so long without being disciplined, no matter how good he was at disarming bombs.
I think it's the best Irak movie I've seen so far, but it still has room for improvement. The action / bomb disarming scenes were terrific, but the characters were a bit shallow, and that the film didn't use big name actors somehow worsened that. A star, like it or not, has a certain background that helps you filling the gaps when the character is underdeveloped.
I rarely call for big names in a movie, but I think they would have helped here.
Really wanted to see this. I actually drove out to a theatre to go see it, had to go a good deal out of the way, but the theatre had the time wrong on their website and I missed it. :hatred:
This is directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who also did Point Break and Near Dark. I'll see anything she does.