The Hurt Locker

Gone are the days when retrospect played a part in movie making...George W had hardly left office before we had 'W' by Oliver Stone.
No more is this prevalent than in the modern war movie...though they are not so much war movies, but movies about the Iraq war.

The Hurt Locker is one of these movie...The story of a new addition to a specialist bomb disposal squad on the streets of Bagdad.
The story is supposed to be giving us an insight into the daily lives of these soldiers in this absurd war..but never really hits the mark. Filmed in a semi (over used) docu-style as many war movies are, but never seems make you feel part of the drama.

I loved the recent HBO miniseries Generation Kill and so was looking forward to The Hurt Locker and really wanted to like, even love it as the pre-release buzz was that this was a classic, but for it wasn't.

I felt contrived and unoriginal...that said it wasn't all bad, in fact at times it was gripping and had several nice (but under used) cameos.
The director Kathryn Bigelow, who brought us 'Point Break' and 'Strange Days' has been grasping for hit for a while and she almost gets it, but this movie is trying to be a crowd pleaser and a subjective look at the Iraq war all at the same time...and the two never really blend.
4/10