I had brunch with a friend on Sunday who raved abut this film. I hadn’t even heard of it myself, but because I trust this particular friend’s judgement I went to see it. I just about blew my mind. This film is amazing.
I raved about it to more friends, and co-workers, and like me nobody seems to have heard about it. Apparently it’s only ‘in select theaters’, not in general release yet. All I can say is, if it is playing in your area GO SEE IT. If it’s not playing near you yet, keep a lookout for ads and see it as soon as it’s playing!
There are only two things you need to know about this movie beforehand: 1) It’s about the U.S. troops in Iraq who work on defusing bombs. 2) It is very, very intense & graphic. (But even if you’re squeamish about violent movies, this is one I’d still recommend. It’s that good. Period.) Don’t ask any more questions, don’t try to look up any more info about it. Just see it. You will be amazed.
All I did was look at your description, and the 98% rating on rotten tomatoes, and I’m already really pumped about seeing this movie. Thanks for the heads-up, I’ll check it out soon.
I saw this last night and it was excellent. I think it’s the first movie I’ve seen that really captures the tone of the insurgency instead of the initial invasion. It made me sympathize with our soldiers in a way nothing else has so far. When I walked out of the theater to the parking lot I couldn’t help but notice all the great spots to hide a bomb. I had never really thought about living with that level of stress and tension in a personal way before.
One thing I though was weird:
Would these guys really be able to pull off the shooting in the sniper scene? Didn’t they say the targets were 800 meters away or something? I guess this part just seemed like an improbable tangent to me. I would have rather seen more of their regular work. The whole sequence seemed out of place and struck me as a little too fantastic.
I just got in from seeing this about an hour ago. An extraordinary film. I’ve liked several other films by director Kathyrn Bigelow (Point Break probably her best known) but this one is quite an achievement. And the performances are outstanding across the board. I will be recommending this to everyone at work tomorrow for sure.
2,430 meters is the current record, held by Rob Furlong of the Princess Pat’s Canadian Light Infantry. I’m not sure how well a random military person would be able to manage one of these weapons, but if it’s part of their infantry training, it certainly seems possible.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but a couple friends I keep up with online who were in Iraq said that it’s not very detail-accurate in many scenes, though it’s a good movie.
I still vividly remember when my brother got out of USMC bootcamp in the summer of '97 and told me about his DI using the term hurt locker. I laughed my ass off. I wanted to see this movie as soon as I heard about it just because of the name.
I think it’s unrealistic for a person who isn’t a trained sniper with plenty of daily practice to just pick up a sniper rifle and pick people off at 800 meters.
Yes, but in the movie’s defense, he missed many times. The spotter kept giving his corrections. I would assume that all soldiers get trained, and the ones who are exceptional go on to become specialists. It didn’t seem unrealistic. They weren’t claiming that he had skills like the Navy snipers who dropped those three Somali pirates on a moving boat from the fantail of a ship. But he could well have been in the top 20% on the sniper range, while the top 10% go on to sniper school - entirely conjecture, I have no idea about how this works, as I have no military experience.)
I saw this movie last week. Pretty good, very intense. A lot of nice cameos by some pretty big names. One thing that left me stumped was what the title meant? I don’t remember them ever saying it in the film.
There was the scene early in the film with a box of personal effects, so it might refer to that. And of course the emotional injury they keep locked up.
I actually saw this movie about 10 days ago, so I must’ve been one of the pioneers in that regard. I thought it was exciting, but not nearly the magnificent cinematic masterpiece that others seem to think it is.
The box contained pieces of all the bombs he defused, plus his wedding ring. (“Everything that nearly killed me!”) I assume this is the locker that the title references.
I saw the movie a few weeks ago when it first opened in New York, and thought it was excellent. I still get creeped out thinking about some of those scenes. Very, very intense without being overbearing or obnoxious.
I absolutely adore Jeremy Renner (since he played Dahmer realistically) and would watch him read an eye chart, so I’m sure I’ll see this. But until then I’ll whet my appetite by asking how his performance was. I’m hearing great, but I’d like to get some Doper’s takes on it too.
Best movie I’ve seen so far this year. If there wasn’t already a thread about it I’d start one.
I think the movie gives a better understanding about what it was like for a US soldier during the insurgency, and just how stressful being in a hostile urban environment can be. I think it also brings insight into how those situations can affect human beings, and reminds us that those soldiers and the people they deal with are human beings.
I don’t think the movie actually did anything new, but what it did it did very well, and it was the first time (that I’ve seen) those things were applied to the Iraq war. It teaches lessons we keep on forgetting.