Pathetic attempt of filmmaking *Spoiler*

Rating: 1/10 (5 October 2010)

This must be one of the worst war movies i've seen... ever... and i've seen many.
There are so many factual errors in this movie that I, for the life of me, cannot... I repeat, CAN NOT understand why ANYone would rate this flick higher than the 3 stars is should have gotten at the very best.
If there is 1 genre which needs to be accurate in it's portrayal of characters, events and surroundings, it's movies about actual wars, past or present. Both Ms. Bigelow and writer Mark Boal obviously couldn't care less...
It starts with the very first 15 seconds. When the camera is facing the ground it's travelling a can of Pepsi flashes into frame. The US does not export Pepsi to Iraq nor do those countries that write in the English language. But ah well... we're just 20 seconds into the movie... how bad can it be, right?
Bombsquad... just 3 men, a Humvee and a robot... in downtown Baghdad or whatever... to try and defuse a 155mm grenade. Bombsquad? In a war zone? Defusing bombs? Who writes this stuff?? Not a care in the world about possible insurgents of course... The butcher across the street has a cellphone he will use to detonate the IED.. but not after being scope-spotted (missing cross-hair) by a bomb squad 'specialist' which makes a run towards him yelling, 'I can't get a shot!' Really?? He didn't just shoot the guy but RAN TOWARDS HIM?
Later in the movie they encounter armed 'insurgent-look-a-likes'. After disarming them they find out these men are Americans as well... why didn't they identify themselves? After receiving enemy fire from 850 meters away, half that team gets killed because they didn't seem to understand the meaning of 'Cover' or 'Keep your head down'. So now it comes down to the bomb squad specialists to take down the insurgents. They use the Barret .50 sniper rifle and guess what... they seem to be trained sniper-spotter specialists too. Never mind the fact that they're in the exact same spot where the the American sniper just got killed. The 3rd member of the bomb squad needs to clean the .50 ammo 'cause the blood of the previous sniper made it jam. But he can't get the blood off!! Scared, nearly crying and almost frozen stiff of fear as he is, he seems to manage spotting an insurgent on the track 200 meters behind him. Just in time 'cause the insurgent is already watching the exposed specialist for about a minute to shoot him in the eye. He then tells the sarge he spotted someone and ASKS the sarge if he can take the shot. The sarge replies by saying that that's his call, not even looking over his shoulder to assess the threat. Just blindly relying on the 'specialists' capabilities to cover his back. He takes the shot and kills the insurgent without him even knowing bullets were coming his way. Meanwhile, the sniper, a former intelligence-agent, not quite yet a bomb specialist takes the shot and takes down a running insurgent at a distance of 850 meters... Now that's one hell of a shot! But as if that was just a normal everyday routine the spotter calmly says something like, 'Target down... bye bye'
Just 2 scenes of a movie which is filled with this lame-ass crap. Not responding to incoming radio traffic, refusing to communicate, always being exposed and asking what to do, running back to camp on your own after a night out in downtown war zone without being hurt or spotted by insurgents, empty streets, being stopped by traffic jams and not fearing for an ambush, not shooting a taxi driver which runs a roadblock on purpose and then pointing a gun at his face for 2 minutes before the taxi driver decides to back up an slowly go back... It goes on and on...
Obviously there has been no research whatsoever, disregarding actual facts of war. It's not a war flick. It's trying to be a drama about some bomb squad specialist whom seem to deal with the daily situations each in a different way.
The character development is not shallow... it's missing all together, no matter what anyone else says. The emotional scenes are out of sync with the depicted situations. The bomb squad sarge claims to only love his newborn son but when returning home after his emotional distress... he seems to have no problem leaving his only love behind to go and recklessly risk his incompetent life again by signing up for another year.
The writer, Mark Boal, should stick to writing microwave manuals and Ms. Bigelow might try again but hopefully next time it will be for the new detergent add on TV.
This film is highly overrated and should have NEVER gotten an Oscar.
If this review can save you some money, but more importantly, 2 hours of your life, well, than...
mission accomplished.