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The Hurt Locker.............

V40

Well-Known Member
Well it looks like the movie "Hurt Locker" won best movie here in the US. So did the the director. Very exciting to watch.
 
yes i was so happy of it! it's better to have real actors :tinysmile_shy_t:

i especially loved the .50 sniping scene, awesome! in most of movies it's a 100% hits ratio , there they corrected, corrected until they aimed right.

Glad this movie won :tinysmile_classes_t
 
I've yet to watch it. I will save it for easter when I go and visit my dad. A film to be watched with beer and wine I guess
 
The Oscar Committe in its actors and actresses always always paid tribute
to those who have died last year. Well they missed somebody and there is an outrage among her peers. It seems they forgot to do a tribute to Farrah Fawcett. I think I still have the poster where she is lined with fished net bathing suit. Such a wonderful person and they denied her of a tribute to herself.:tinysmile_angry2_t:
 
OK, I will be the desenting viewpoint. Having devoted about 43 years to the US Army EOD program I admit I have a biased viewpoint. I also know that no matter the subject that Hollywood will taken liberal license in portraying a subject in a ticket-selling mode regardless of authenticity. I can therefore over look the errors in equipment, uniforms, etc. My problem though is that, in my mind, the movie did a GREAT injustice to the EOD techs serving today. Everyone seeing that movie thinks that they are a bunch of free-wheeling, regulation breaking, EOD procedure ignoring, fist-fighting cowboys. If any of those men were actually in the Army they would be eliminated from the EOD program and no doubt the Army for their actions in that movie. They broke just anbout every regulation and theater directive possible. I know it is drama and it was an exciting movie, but I cannot accept the portrayal made of the EOD techs serving today. Luckily there are many, many US EOD personnel that feel the same way. One told me he bought the DVD of the movie, played it and threw it away halfway through the film. I didn't go that far because I kept telling myself things would get better, but they didn't.
 
I wasn't going to tip the bucket over but since EODGUY has done that already I guess I will wade on in. EODGUY is completely correct in my opinion. The movie had such potential but I found it painful to watch because EOD techs would never be so reckless and foolish. Pat
 
@EODGUY: even if we are not in your position, everyone will agree about the fact that the main character is insane and exaggerated, no doubt on that. But tell me, if you look at all other characters, they seem to carefully follow the rules, and are schoked by the main character, who have the "hollywood" fonction, if you see what i mean in my awful english....

I wait for your opinion on that!
 
IMHO the whole movie was absolutely riddled with inaccuracy from start to finish. Kept thinking somewhere an American EOD Guy will be squirming in his seat. Surely US bomb disposal units don't do it like that ! Glad EODGUY had his say.
One scene alone reduced the movie to farce; six wired 105/155mm rounds tugged out of the ground by their detonators. Eh !
Lets leave bomb disposal aside and go to the sniping. Good guy firing a M82 Barrett (12.7x99) from the prone position at 850m is taken out by an SVD (7.62X54) armed insurgent (hanging out of a window) that no one can hit with the Barrett. Except they can hit his mate when he's running at the same range. And the Barrett fails to feed due to blood in the magazine. Come on....
Was the same guy who wrote the scripts for the Muppets involved in this movie ?
 
then give us 2 or 3 movies (not documentary!) with good accuracy for weapons and tactics?
 
Although not a movie or a documentary the 1970,s TV series DANGER UXB was historically correct and had accurately constructed scenes. with just one scene of a 50Kg being kicked off a wall of a burning house, which although hard to imagine i believe it did actually happen. I was very lucky to be given the scripts for the series , which were once owned by one of the advisors, showing all the scene changes because of incorrect procedures or even laungage used.
 
I totally agree that DANGER UXB was a superb series. At least when they added the romance and individual story lines they did not mess with the realism of the shows. It is a classic, but it could no doubt never be made today with the same authenticity. I bought it on VHS tape then bought it on DVD and will buy it on whatever format they come up with next no doubt. Of course, I ruined the show for my wife because I kept telling her what was going to happen before they did it on the show. She still thinks it was a super series also though. Now, as for the script, I am eternally jealous!! What a coup to have that!!
 
Hi Bob
Thats very true, i very much doug,ht if it could be reproduced with such realism , i was very lucky to be involved in the Channel 4 doc DANGER UXB , which again was almost 100% accurate, having a great producer who was a real stickler for detail
 
Hurt Locker hero: would he cut it in World War 2?

I think action and adventure has taken priority over accuracy in the Hurt Locker. I don't think the lead character would have lasted long in WW2, let alone today. I had a ponder in my blog over at uxbmalta.blogspot.com - see what you think.
 
Got to see the film last night. I thought it was a good film but not deserving of all the Oscars. It reminded me of the year Top Gun got the Oscars when the US army was also in the mire.

The characters in the film all seemed pretty disfunctional and slap dash, so I hope it's not true to life. Like another person on the forum I thought the ambush / sniper sequence was pretty good, but the excursion into the town at night to find the young boy and the EOD specialist leading a hunt for a bomber personally pretty far fatched.

Well worth seeing but not a great film.

John
 
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