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I swollowed the TV advertising & hype.
Last night I wasted 2hrs of my life and couldn't wait for it to end.
Rarely do I feel so cheated out of my hard earned cash when viewing a film, even if I don't enjoy it, but yesterday I did .
Absolutely awful.
Avoid like the plague.

The sniper bit was good.
Overall i did enjoy it. Not quite as good as "Over There" or "Generation Kill" though.

Roll on the new Band of Brothers set in the Pacific.

I did the same and watched it last night, I enjoyed it, not as good as some films, but a darn site better than a lot.

I thought the sniper part was particularly fantastic.
In the same way as, say, Alice in Wonderland, or Star Trek, or Lord of the Rings, any film where you have to suspend logic and normal parameters.

The SAS were made to look like chumps and crass amateurs at ever twist and turn.
Firstly, they're taken by complete surprise by the US vehicle.
Then one SAS trooper is shot dead from a ludicrous range (800m) by an insurgent poking his weapon's muzzle directly out of an open window, thus giving away his position, from the only building for miles around, an AK47 to boot; so what does the US soldier do? Move position? Apply some simple soldiering skills of camouflage and concealment, does he adopt a more suitable fire position? Nope, the US sniper adopts the very same fire position as the last, now dead man, & proceeds to make extraordinary shots, including a moving target. Utter rubbish. It was, as you say, fantastic & completely unbelievable.
It just got worse as the film went on.
The sniper nonsense was but the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

I simply couldn't wait for it to end.
Was this a straight-to-DVD film?

And what about that IED hardware, triggers, relay switches and the like tucked under The Idiot’s bed space?
There are military units perpetually tasked with the sole mandate of establishing what the insurgents are using in the manufacture of their IED’s, by whom, in what way and where the kit’s coming in from? That way the operators can adapt SOP’s (standard operating procedures) and keep the ATO’s (typically the rank of Captain) alive.
The Idiot was putting everyone at risk, with almost everything he did, and to top it all, we’re lead to believe he’s back In Theater on a 365 day tour.
Complete and utter b”llocks.
The bomb disposal officers were rotated around the various different areas of operation in country as they themselves became named targets with a $ value on their heads. Plus the mental pressures were / are enormous, so no sense in wasting valuable resources.

AVOID this film.

I think the differnce between my viewing experience of the film and your's was, I realised it was a film nothing more nothing less, a bit like when I watch ice age with the kids, I realise and so do the kids that it would have taken more than a hazelnut to have started the ice breaking off.

i enjoyed it

LOL @ Ti29er. It's a fictional film.

Ice Age! Thumbs-up.
Suspend belief. Enjoy.

This film, however, gets everything wrong.
It wound me up something rotten.
Not since The Blair Witch Project have I been so annoyed by the hopeless inaccuracy (in this film's case).
It really got under my skin.
Surely to goodness they'd have had a military adviser.
If so, he should be shot without delay.

Watched it with my son, really enjoyed it…well apart from the over the top chase sequence…er he said parts of the film quite accurate, the secondary IED's etc, said it reminded him of his tour over there…

I couldn't take it seriously after watching him 'talk' into his Peltor ear defenders, despite them not being connected to a radio, or having a mike, using the volume button on the side. complete with fake radio squelch noise. Fail!

Nice to see an EOD tech who's qualified for a 50cal sniper rifle too.

IMHO, if you're going to make a film about a recent and indeed contentious conflict, one that we saw so much of in the media, for gawd's sake get the details right!

I was interested until:
Not since The Blair Witch Project have I been so annoyed by the hopeless inaccuracy
huh? Hopeless inaccuracy in a horror film?

Maybe I will watch the Hurt Locker now

Any drama about an area in which you have specialist knowledge will wind you up. They are never going to be realistic so best to just avoid.

Assuming your military experience doesn't include guarding aliens in south african townships I can totally recommend District9. Watched it last night and it was fantastic.

D9 cropped up in conversation today as I was berating the director of Hurt Locker.
The guys who watched it hated it!
Horses for courses maybe.

This is the book you want to read if you like this film – or hate it as I do.
HERE