Lacked a real plot

Rating: 7/10 (18 January 2013)

Kathryn Bigelow chose to base her movie on a bomb disposal team which is quite an original choice compared to other war features. She managed to film the mission of those soldiers with great realism: the photography is very good and emphasize perfectly the narration.
Overall, the scenario is a bit uneven: some scenes are ultra captivating whereas others are a bit heavy or too telegraphed. But the biggest problem is the lack of a real thread that greatly penalizes the movie. There is no real connexion between the scenes and the repetitiveness of the script becomes a bit weighty but also a bit tedious towards the end.
One can also deplore the lack of depth regarding the characters' psychology, when Jarhead for example managed to arouse a real empathy towards the soldiers.
As for the cast, it is tough to judge because although the actors' performances were solid, they were also very academic, in relation to the lack of depth of their characters.