I have read too many negative reviews....

Rating: 9/10 (4 January 2010)

...of this movie that I don't feel are circumspect enough while being far too hypercritical...those with the most scathing admitting up front their partisan standing having been or still in active service.
Excellent script, beautiful cinematography.
First off, and this is not the point or the criteria of this review so please read beyond, but Never use ANY Oliver Stone flick to put into question the factual integrity of another piece; especially when said other never even implies non-fiction. Platoon?!? Really?? Like Werner Herzog is to a good story teller as Rescue Dawn is to a true story?
Now I need to watch The Hurt Locker again, but, besides knowing the base they're stationed at is legit, I'm hard-pressed to offer examples that Bigelow makes much serious determination, if at all, to suggest this film's location at being in Iraq...simply an area of the Middle East...She didn't play with us like that; this could have been Afghanistan or in any of the other countries we might soon be at risk.
Second off, but now I'd like to exchange paragraphs, I have the utmost respect for what American men and women do to protect this country and others'. I can only imagine how your mind rambles. And I can understand the criticism of The Hurt Locker sometimes totally lacking authenticity.
I quickly need to add though that this movie had me, like so many others, on the edge of my seat, tears in my eyes, with nothing but deepened adoration for the sacrifices others make for those of us typing away in front of a computer screen.
Bigelow completely and blatantly dramatized actual situations with Hollywood shenanigans but made no attempt at hiding this fact. She did so in a manner that left the majority, like me, speechless, but those with the real experience upset.
Stop stressing. We all, for the most part, know better, and knew better going into the flick. We know that you aren't all looking to throw your personal lives away for an adrenaline rush. This movie did not muddy my thoughts on any of that.
Bigelow directed such a fantastic Hollywood screenplay that forced countless hearts to beat waaay too fast for almost all the right reasons. I know, I hear ya, why would he and how could he have done what he did in the middle of the night to run through the streets of Iraq...in the middle of the night...without an interruption? Check. Got it. What rating would you give Die-Hard just outta curiosity? Let's not compare oranges to "Army Wives?"
She was phenomenal at making us feel why many soldiers for many reasons feel the range of emotions that they do. And she did so without vomiting narrative. She did so by providing circumstances that felt too real and far too livable. Bigelow took Boal's well-crafted script and drove it with near perfection, allowing us a long but smooth ride. Jeremy Renner's performance left me not contemplating another "3 Kings" thrill-seeker, but of one with a severely conflicted inner-self where the Kill Zone is his only constant, his comfort zone.
Bigelow might win It for a ratings success, but still deservedly so.
Kudos
Time for another early morning movie...