Hot on the heels of "Hurt Locker" comes this absolutely superb war thriller directed by a guy who is probably the greatest action director to emerge in the past decade... Paul Greengrass... Like Hurt Locker, this is shot through with an authenticity and "realism" which almost puts you there in the thick of the action... A lot of people moan about the "shaky-cam", but I dont, I think as a cinematic tool, it's simply amazing and gives you a "feel" for the action.... And, for war films in particular, I think it works extremely well in giving you a sense of actually being there... Of course, "shaky-cam" wouldn't work for all sorts of films, or even all sorts of action films, but for this particular type, I think it works...

 

Anyway, what is it about..? Matt Damon plays Warrant Officer Miller, who heads up a team searching for WMDs in the immediate aftermath of the invasion.. He quickly becomes of the opinion that something is seriously wrong with the Intelligence, and that a CIA informant known as "Magellan" may be lying.. His team then get a tip from an Iraqi civilian, "Freddy", (who is also an ex-soldier of the Iran-Iraq conflict) that a secret meeting of Ba'athist Party officials is taking place. They raid the meeting, but miss out on their big target, General Al-Rawi, who is the man who apparently knows where all the WMDs allegedly are..

 

This is basically a story of the honour of the ordinary soldier going up against the dishonesty of Politicians who lied and betrayed them, and not just the US soldiers, but Iraqi soldiers too (who became victims of the absurd and ultimately foolish policy of disbanding the Iraqi army, which then led to the Insurgency and instability which followed).. Greg Kinnear plays Clark Poundstone (a stand-in for Paul Wolfowitz) extremely well, Brendan Gleeson is excellent as a CIA operative who himself has serious doubts about WMDs and tries to help Miller find the truth. If you remember just one piece of dialogue then just remember the words of "Freddy", the Iraqi who helps Miller... "It is not for you to decide what happens here"... Indeed, but also remember the final words of Miller "The reasons for war always matter.....What happens the next time we ask people to trust us..?"

 

This is a blinding film, the plot is just complex enough to satisfy those who like their action films to have brains as well as brawn, and the action itself is very well done by a director whom I feel should be getting his Best Director Oscar and BAFTAs very soon indeed...

 

 

Top marks for this, superb, grip-you-like-a-vice stuff which has some serious points to make.....10/10

Glad to hear it is so good. I am suprised you gave it 10/10 though, as it has recieved some mixed reviews, whereas The Bourne Ultimatum was universally praised by critics. I am hoping it will be ALOT better than the overated 'Hurt Locker' though - I am asuming it is seeing as you were so impressed you made a thread for it, whereas I don't recall you even mentioning The Hurt Locker prior to the Oscar hype took over. :P

 

I am really looking forward to seeing this though. Paul Greengrass is simply excellent and should direct the next Bond imo - he would surely be capable of rescueing it after the frankly appauling 'Quantum Of Solance' .What a week for films to look forward to - this and Shutter Island :D

Edited March 12, 201015 yr by De Niro

Watched it today. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it had a good plot and was brilliantly directed. I didn't mind the shaky cam and I thought it did well with the action scenes.

 

Empire have bigged it up quite a bit, havent really had much of an urge to see it, might check it out sometime.

Glad to hear it is so good. I am suprised you gave it 10/10 though, as it has recieved some mixed reviews, whereas The Bourne Ultimatum was universally praised by critics. I am hoping it will be ALOT better than the overated 'Hurt Locker' though - I am asuming it is seeing as you were so impressed you made a thread for it, whereas I don't recall you even mentioning The Hurt Locker prior to the Oscar hype took over. :P

 

I am really looking forward to seeing this though. Paul Greengrass is simply excellent and should direct the next Bond imo - he would surely be capable of rescueing it after the frankly appauling 'Quantum Of Solance' .What a week for films to look forward to - this and Shutter Island :D

 

Depends on the sources for these "mixed reviews" though dunnit..? The film is very critical of US policy in Iraq (some of these more "patriotic" types wont like that..) and the war itself... And so it should be IMO...

 

At the end of the day, the film is actually very sympathetic towards the ordinary soldiers who have been fed a pack of lies and used by their Govt, it's also sympathetic towards the ordinary Iraqis as well (as personified by "Freddy" who is himself an ex-soldier scarred in another war).. I'd say this is balanced tbh, but some people wont like it because it's critical towards the US Govt and the CIA...

 

I didn't do a thread for Hurt Locker because I believe someone else did... I still think it's a very good film, much better than Avatar... But perhaps not as good as Distrtict 9 overall, but then, it would be ridiculous to say "District 9" was best film and have a situation where the director couldn't even get an Oscar because he wasn't even nominated.... Totally bizarre situation that.... WTF was the point in having 10 "Best Films" and only 5 of those films' directors got nominated....? Absolutely no sense in that....

Well I was refering to the 50/50 of positive/negetive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes - so very mixed my critics overall but obviously that is the US, and with any film about Iraq - it is going to divide people (with the exception of The Hurt Locker which was very pro-American and the war, unlike the vast majority of Iraq films thus far). Although saying that I have heard some mixed reviews from around forums as well, but I will be seeing it on Sunday so I am looking forward to making up my own mind. It has to be said though, it will be remembered as a massive flop. $130M budget but only $14m opening? Surely they should know by now films about Iraq always do badly so why spend such a huge amount? :lol: This article details the negetivity http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_pi...-universal.html

 

No, there was never a thread on here for 'The Hurt Locker' which I found odd seeing as it won best picture. Considering it bombed at thre Box Office though, it is no suprise as very few have even seen it. I bet the DVD sales will be very good though - they really shouldve re-released it in the cinema around the Oscar week.

Edited March 19, 201015 yr by De Niro