The Hurt Locker

I just saw this film.

Two Words, ing Awesome.

what did you guys think of it? Did anyone else feel the British army were made to look a bit all over the place in the sniping scene? it kind of pissed me off, all though i loved Ralph Fiennes in it i felt they made the British guys look like they didn't know what they were doing.

Loved the movie as well. And I agree with you on the British soldiers (and I'm American).

I mean what the were they doing? The movie portrayed them as morons who didn't know how to handle a weapon. They were obviously some kind of special forces, so training wasn't an issue. Just didn't make sense

Rest of the movie was awesome

I mean, i have no criticism at all, apart from the guy playing gears of war when it wasn't out in 2004 as far as i know.

nut the British were running around like morons in it. It really pissed me off.

British Army? Those guys were supposed to be contractors most likely. Mercs of some kind. Civilian attire, no unit or national insignia, AK's instead of anything western or British issue and driving around in a civilian SUV.

Granted they still looked like chumps but maybe that was a commentary on PMCs in Iraq, I don't know.

Originally Posted by Rapax

British Army? Those guys were supposed to be contractors most likely. Mercs of some kind. Civilian attire, no unit or national insignia, AK's instead of anything western or British issue and driving around in a civilian SUV.

Granted they still looked like chumps but maybe that was a commentary on PMCs in Iraq, I don't know.

AHHH you're right. I remember now; The head british guy said something about a reward for those Arabs they had captured.

See, Rapax, you're definitely not an idiot

ah yes!


"50,000 for each, dead or alive"

Yeah, they were definitly PMC's. Its still annoying though, especially as most PMC's are either ex-military or ex-special forces. They didn't seem to fire off a single shot except on the guy doing a runner. For some reason they handed over shooting duties to bomb disposal experts?



Still, I thought it was a brilliant movie other then that. Didn't really seem to have a political agenda- it just portrayed Iraq how it was (Or at least how I imagined it to be seeing as I have never been). And despite the lack of shooting, there was some very tense moments.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You really had to feel for that guy at the end who had a suicide belt padlocked to him

Originally Posted by Azog 150

Yeah, they were definitly PMC's. Its still annoying though, especially as most PMC's are either ex-military or ex-special forces. They didn't seem to fire off a single shot except on the guy doing a runner. For some reason they handed over shooting duties to bomb disposal experts?



Still, I thought it was a brilliant movie other then that. Didn't really seem to have a political agenda- it just portrayed Iraq how it was (Or at least how I imagined it to be seeing as I have never been). And despite the lack of shooting, there was some very tense moments.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You really had to fell for that guy at the end who had a suicide belt padlocked to him

jesus yeah, that scene was sad.

I thought it was pretty average, didn't really seem anything special and for a "realistic" movie it wasn't really that realistic, case in point being the British mercenaries.

I agree, I thought it was a great film.

I really liked the movie. I dunno how much of a political message they were trying to get across... it was focused more on the human aspect than anything else. I felt sorry for the psychologist colonel =/

Originally Posted by Mahmud Ghaznavi

I really liked the movie. I dunno how much of a political message they were trying to get across... it was focused more on the human aspect than anything else. I felt sorry for the psychologist colonel =/

he didn't feel a thing. Nice guy though.

Just watched the movie tonight. ing Amazing. Even though the movie has sort of a "war is hell" message to it, It's a pretty good recruitment movie for the US army.

It's a good movie though not really that realistic. I liked it because it didn't try to make Iraq vets look like deranged, PTSD suffering psychopaths like every other movie that's come out trying to have some sort of agenda. It just told a story and it was a decent one.

I've called EOD many, many times to get rid of IEDs and they have never walked up on one in a bomb suit EVER. Likewise everyone I've ever asked about that said the same thing. I remember promotional video of the movie saying EOD was sooo dangerous and all that but it's not in my opinion. They usually just get called to dispose of IEDs that WE already found and cordoned off for them, unless they are a part of a route clearance team. Not to say they don't work their asses off, but the danger they are in is obviously played way up in the film.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The scene where he finds the daisy chain is probably my favorite one.

Originally Posted by Captain Jin

It's a good movie though not really that realistic. I liked it because it didn't try to make Iraq vets look like deranged, PTSD suffering psychopaths like every other movie that's come out trying to have some sort of agenda. It just told a story and it was a decent one.

I've called EOD many, many times to get rid of IEDs and they have never walked up on one in a bomb suit EVER. Likewise everyone I've ever asked about that said the same thing. I remember promotional video of the movie saying EOD was sooo dangerous and all that but it's not in my opinion. They usually just get called to dispose of IEDs that WE already found and cordoned off for them, unless they are a part of a route clearance team. Not to say they don't work their asses off, but the danger they are in is obviously played way up in the film.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The scene where he finds the daisy chain is probably my favorite one.

True, but I don't think it was portrayed as a normal thing, remember Sanborn and Eldridge think he's crazy.

Originally Posted by Captain Jin

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The scene where he finds the daisy chain is probably my favorite one.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Daisy Chain?

THe movie was written by someone who was imbedded with the bomb squad and it was exploration of why people do the job that they do. Words right out of the horses mouth so to speak, since i heard the writer and director speak after a screening.

But I really enjoyed it, can't see how Avatar beat it out as best picture. What ever agenda it had was just an exploration of the statement above.

As for the British thing, they were supposed to be contractors and not British soldiers, but yes, they did seem a little chaotic when they were under fire and I was a little confused as for the reasoning of the bomb squad being sent in. But I guess it could be seen as more of an issue if your Birtish and saw it some sort of snub, which I don't think was intentional in anyway as far as I know. Only point I saw was to show just how leet the two characters were as snipers. Although it was a good scene full of tension.

I liked it too, very tense and psychological.

Some people don't seem to enjoy because it's not very realistic, but they are completely missing the point of the movie or any movie for that matter, the focus was not to be an ultra realistic documentary type drama.

I wished district 9 would win best picture but I doubt that will happen, but i would still prefer Hurt Locker to win instead of Avatar.

True, but I don't think it was portrayed as a normal thing, remember Sanborn and Eldridge think he's crazy.

^^I think thats what he is saying. They think he's crazy for not wearing a bomb suit while Jin is saying they don't really wear bomb suits anyway.

But yeah, it was a brilliant movie and better then Avatar in my opinion (Completely different of course, but Avatar didn't have much going for it outside of amazing CGI)

I've called EOD many, many times to get rid of IEDs and they have never walked up on one in a bomb suit EVER. Likewise everyone I've ever asked about that said the same thing. I remember promotional video of the movie saying EOD was sooo dangerous and all that but it's not in my opinion. They usually just get called to dispose of IEDs that WE already found and cordoned off for them, unless they are a part of a route clearance team. Not to say they don't work their asses off, but the danger they are in is obviously played way up in the film.

I don't know about Iraq, but isn't EOD supposed to be the most dangerous job there is in Afghanistan (As in the one with the highest casualty rates)? Maybe IED's were a bit more 'stable' in Iraq or something?

Originally Posted by Azog 150

^^I think thats what he is saying. They think he's crazy for not wearing a bomb suit while Jin is saying they don't really wear bomb suits anyway.

^^This. For instance the guy at the beginning walked up on one in a bomb suit after their little robot broke. Just never seen that ever.

I don't know about Iraq, but isn't EOD supposed to be the most dangerous job there is in Afghanistan (As in the one with the highest casualty rates)? Maybe IED's were a bit more 'stable' in Iraq or something?

I don't think so. I don't have stats to support it. But generally speaking EOD acts as a reactionary force. They are generally based out of large bases and whenever operating forces are hit by an IED or find an IED they call EOD to come in and disarm or blow it up. They aren't out there searching for them generally, unless of course they are part of a route clearance team but in such cases they have route clearance units usually doing the searching part and EOD is just there already for quick disposal/disarmament of IEDs.

Also consider that A-stan didn't see much IED used until the last two years of the war.

If EOD has a spike in casualties I'd attribute it to carelessness at times. The movie is right in one regard, lots of those guys are stupid-crazy. Here are some examples I saw:

-Once someone drove by the Iraqi police station in Saqlawiyah when we were there and threw a hand grenade into the parking lot we were in. We all ran inside and slammed the door, grenade didn't go off so we called EOD. They drove up, guy got out, walked right up to the grenade and the guy picked it up and unscrewed the fuse. Then he put it in his pocket.

-Once got hit by an IED and we pushed through killzone, setup a cordon and conducted secondary sweeps, found the big daddy IED that was actually meant to hit us if we had stayed in Killzone. Also found mortar fins sticking out of the ground; as in mortars that had been fired and hit the ground but didn't explode. When EOD showed up guy just walked over there and grabbed them both by the tail fin and yanked them out of the ground.

-They often keep stuff they disarm to use for classes and learn what insurgents are using. Once they kept shells that were unknowingly filled with mustard gas (insurgents probably didn't know they had mustard gas in them either), they were rounds from Yugoslavia. Well they put the rounds in the truck and of course were handling them with bare hands and everything. Then they all got like deathly ill from it.

So yeah, I like EOD and have some buddies in it that absolutely love it. And they do deploy a lot, but the whole idea that they have a high attrition rate via casualties is a fallacy as far as I've seen.

As a side-note, the funniest call-sign I've ever heard in Iraq was from an EOD team. They were called "Bang Bus". Haha, rather fitting really.