Pooh

Rating: 2/10 (15 February 2012)

Deaspite its aesthetically pleasing action scenes and beautiful landscapes, the storyline and characterization present in this film are filled with cliché themes, egregious errors, and ridiculous assumptions about military operations in the modern era. The plot of this movie is predicated upon the experiences of Sgt. James, a "wild man" who has tremendous skill in the art of ordinance disposal. James and his two fellow team members; Sanbourne and Eldridge, form an EOD team who diffuse IEDs and seem to roam freely and without any escort across Baghdad. My main issue with this film is its unrealistic portrayal of combat operations. An EOD team of 3 men would never travel across Baghdad without an escort, would never find itself clearing buildings, would never be left on its own to secure a possible IED, would never engage an Iraqi sniper, and, for that matter, and EOD trained buck Sergeant would never have the ability to effectively use a sniper rifle. Not only that, but an Iraqi sniper would never have the skill of the one shown in the film. And a British special forces team would never be picked apart by a hostile sniper while under the cover of a ridgeline and then be saved by a three man EOD team. And the opening scene really gets me. An man holding a cell phone in the vicinity of an IED, an area which should be cleared of all civilians, would be shot immediately. Throughout the movie, the EOD team display numerous lapses in discipline, fail to aknowledge basic tactical considerations in the deployment of their team, and do not operate effectively or safely. These errors show the lack of research or care by the director in understanding how the military operates. Clearly this Oscar chasing w**** has a burning desire to outshine her husband and sacrifice realism for cliché action scenes that appeal to only the most idiotic movie goers in America.