An Amazingly Intense Two Hours!

Rating: 9/10 (23 February 2010)

I think that some of the critics are missing the point in this film. Many Iraqi vets have responded negatively. I'm sure there are some serious inaccuracies in military protocol and day to day activity. However, take any movie that involves a particular profession or walk of life, analyze it, and it will fall apart. Take police films, for instance. I have a police officer friend who has been on the force for 20 years. He's never had to fire his gun. Most police officers seldom use their weapons. That's why it's so hard on them when they need to face a gunman. Still, the police in many of our best movies use their guns like they use their flashlights. If Dirty Harry were real, he would have lasted about a week on the police force. Does that diminish the effect of the film? We suspend the disbelief for films. This is more than a movie about Iraq. It's a movie about a man who is devoted to the adrenaline rush, a man for whom pure danger rules his life. He is wired for violence and the need to face death at every turn. The people around him are frightened to death because this guy has no sense of order. He is loose cannon and those around him should have run for the hills, but the honor code keeps them there.
This movie has tense scene after tense scene, centered around the next explosive device. It also has a character who can't relate to other people except in the most violent way. He pulls it back every so often, but eventually returns to his own demons. It also has a surreal element like "Apocalypse Now." At times there is a dreamy sense that hovers in the heat of the desert. There is a scene where he has gone to the home of a boy whose body was booby trapped with explosives. When he runs through the streets, we can see that he is out of place with time and space. It has those same eerie qualities. As for the aforementioned "Apocalypse Now," it was not a realistic movie either, but it was great because it drew from the fear and terror of war. For people who have seen this war, you have been through things that we civilians can't imagine, but remember that despite certain details being out of joint, it still portrays the horrors of war. The main character is almost metaphysical in a sense as he walks in that suit toward another potential death scene.