Very disappointing.

Rating: 5/10 (7 March 2010)

When I decided to watch this film yesterday after hearing a lot of praise for it and in the light of the Academy Award nomination, I was pretty excited. After the first half hour into this film, I seriously began to doubt all the hype and at the end it was just utter disappointment. Just to let you know where I am coming from: I have been an Army Reserves officer for 20 years and I do like good war movies and I love cinema. But this film was so shallow, the plot flat and acting just average. Is is the eternal infatuation of the US audience with rogue warriors who like do to their own thing without regard for their team that created all this stir? It's like a Schwarzenegger movie plot mixed with Saving Private Ryan. From a military perspective it is exactly the opposite what every Special Forces soldier learns and learns hard: that you only excel as a team. Rogue warrior type of soldiers are weeded out right at the start of the training. A loose cannon who endangers the welfare of his comrades? Give me a break - this is just plain unrealistic. But not even the plot or cinematography were exciting, not to speak about simply mediocre acting. I honestly question the motives behind nominating this film for any award. What is the accomplishment? In my humble opinion, this film will never enter the realm of truly good war movies. Very disappointing.