Style over substance

Rating: Null/10 (6 October 2009)

The trailer for The Hurt Locker got me hooked - It looked gritty and realistic and the opportunity for the war to be told from a different perspective intrigued me.
Unfortunately The Hurt Locker failed to deliver on the above, in quite a big way.
One of the main issues the film has is that it's shot in a documentary style, this gives the viewer the impression of realism. However in almost every scene there are glaring inaccuracies and Hollywood embellishments that contradicted any sense of realism.
Examples are numerous but two that stick out are; Sgt James "going it alone" by using a smoke grenade as a distraction on the first mission. Soldiers do not do things like this, survival for soldiers relies on teamwork with your buddies, not lone wolf die hard crap. The second instance was the sniper scene where the almost certainly elite ex-special forces soldiers are taken out like sitting ducks leaving the EOD team to clear up and shoot all the remaining bad guys. Not to mention snipering a running insurgent at 850m in one shot.
The other main issue with this film is our main character Sgt James. This is a character driven film, with the plot consisting of us being taken through Sgt James's tour of Iraq. Because of this it is vital for the viewer to understand his actions so we can accept them and be along for the ride. However there is no sufficient evidence to explain why he acts psychotic and puts his life and others on the line with everything he does. There is also no explanation for why he leaves his wife and child to go back to Iraq and continue with his suicide missions.
On the plus side I think this film was entertaining, the acting was good, and the special fx shots were brilliant.
4 out of 10 for me.