Total nonsense & not worth the hype

Rating: 2/10 (1 April 2010)

I saw this movie on DVD shortly after it came out and it must have been fairly forgettable because I thought no more of it until it picked up all the major Oscars and that prompted me to watch it again to see if it was that good. I have to say that it wasn't and I really can't figure out why it got all the plaudits. I can only imagine that nobody wanted Avatar to win and the Hurt Locker was the next best option.
The main problem with the movie was its total lack of realism and a plot line that was simply incredulous. In the opening scene, the EOD man has to go out in the open, because a cart that looks like it was made by a 9 year old falls apart. The sniper scene was a complete nonsense and must have been put in purely to show how even the SAS are complete incompetents compared with the heroic Americans. One of the main reasons why the Iraqi insurgents & the Taliban have to resort to IED's is because they have no military skills whatsoever and are no match for open engagements with professional soldiers, so for this film to make us believe that an Iraqi sniper squad could pick off 3 SAS men from 800 yards away with what looked like AK47's is laughable.
Even more ridiculous is the scene where he goes after the boy's killers on his own, wearing combat fatigues and then tells the driver who is at gunpoint, "wait for me"! I think even I might have thought it would be a good idea to take the ignition keys with me, just in case the driver did a runner! Then he comes out having achieved absolutely nothing and trots through the streets of Baghdad without getting a scratch on him. The film continues with each scene more stupid than the next.
In conclusion, beware, this is a war movie for children, not thinking adults, I cannot fathom why the critics give it such high marks.