The Hurt Locker And The Oscars

by Patrick Appel

Brian Mockenhaup, who served twice in Iraq, didn't enjoy the film:

I expected a movie that would give viewers a real sense of what a minority of Americans have been doing on their behalf these nine years. Instead, I left the theater frustrated and disappointed. To its credit, The Hurt Locker, unlike many of the War on Terror films so far, doesn't spoon-feed political messages. But Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal have tried so hard to make a great and important film that they transformed their story into caricature.

David Sessions counters. Freddie DeBoer's thoughts:

I think, like the large majority of war movies I've ever seen, it is hampered by a tremendous amount of cliches, and is sort of hokey on the level of character. (The soldier who can only make sense of the world when he's at war is a pretty well played out trope at this point, right?)