About a US EOD team in Iraq in 2004.

Have you guys seen it? What's your views?

Although I read it was released in mid year in the US, I just caught the movie yesterday on the big screen over here! I never saw any trailers on TV of it! Thank goodness I do a lot of googling to keep up with new movies..

The film came across as pretty believable, I wouldn't know about EOD tactics and all...but based on what I've hear personally - from a "Humanitarian" perspective of all the hell going on over there, particularly the constant usage of IEDs... The film comes pretty spot on.

There's an ininteresting and also sad take with PMC guys as well.

Although I only recognised Jeremy Renner (28 weeks later), the acting was superb, at times like a documentary...flawless and convincing.

If you haven't caught it.. GOT FOR IT when it's out on DVD!

My 2 cents..

I caught last week in the theatre (Sweden is a bit behind in these respects...) and I thought it was great!

I don't know how realistic it was, but it was sufficiently realistic for me, but the most impressive was the suspense, it felt like those IED's could go off at any time. Sweaty...

The contrast to the suburban family life (the endless cereal aisle) is very strong.

Anyway, thats my 2 cents..

I just watched it. Amazing movie for a modern military enthusiest like myself. I recommend the movie to anyone here. Especially if you can get it for $5.99 on PPV like me. It made me instantly want to make a dio of the sniper scene. Then I remebered that an M1114 conversion is out of my price range. I would also like to add that there are numerous inaccuracies but that goes along with almost all war movies.
Evan

Just picked up the DVD. Great movie. Highly recommended - two thumbs way up!

http://thehurtlocker-movie.com/

I saw it on DVD. I like it

this was a cool scene

http://moorethanthis.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/the_hurt_locker_movie_review_stills_20091.jpg

Talk about something to make your arse pucker - that bomb suit is not going to do much if those IEDs go off.

True, there are a few scenes where he realizes this

Just watched it on PPV. I thought it was boring. I worked in EOD several centuries ago and I'll tell you right now that a guy like the lead character wouldn't have been allowed to stick around in the unit. Hero cowboys are not welcome in EOD units.

The picture shows the most glaring, stupid, pathetic thing in the movie. Upon finding a wire in the dirt - YOU DON"T PULL ON IT!!

Several of my former patients are EOD techs coming out of OIF/OEF and they give the movies impression a 50/50. I myself enjoyed it for the popcorn factor.

popcorn factor ...

me too. I didn't take it as accurate reality. I knew I was watching a movie

Finally got it on DVD and will watch tonight. Has to be better than "Redacted".

Also got the Generation Kill box set....

I was EOD a long time ago. The other poster's comments about a hero is accurate. However the scene where the tech takes off the suit while working on the car rings pretty true. We weren't worried about devices that would kill us, just the little ones that would hurt us. When I was in, we had grunts to provide security and worked in two man teams. It's seems a waste of expensive trained talent to have EOD techs watching for badguys while they work. The pulling on wires was a really stupid scene, but ther effect was impressive- it really added to the pucker factor of the scene.

On the whole an enjoyable movie, but I doubt the realism. If you want to see a realistic depiction of EOD work, find a tape of an old BBC series "Danger UXB" from the seventies. It was based on the Brit teams in WWII and was accurate based on what I learned in EOD school at Indianhead.

I saw the movie last weekend while at NG Drill. I'm not EOD qualified, but have been a Combat Engineer for over 29 years.

Entertaining as a story and fiction, but at least half of it was inaccurate from an EOD and Army Combat Engineer standpoint. I do agree that the above pictured scene with EOD SFC pulling the multiple Arty shells by their detonation lines was HIGHLY inaccurate but a quite effective emotional way to show it.

The way the EOD team worked the first IED at the start of the movie was a little more accurate (careful, precise procedures), and the sniper scene was decent, but I think the Ranger-tabbed EOD SFC firing the Barrett and the EOD SGT spotting for him more believable.

The scene with the VBIED in the Green Zone would have been more acceptable if they had added something about the device having a timer and they couldn't evacuate the area in time, making it necessary for the EOD team to diffuse the VBIED. Unless I missed something...

The EOD SFC acting like a loner cowboy instead of being the NCOIC was also off, especially for a small, highly trained and experienced group. My Combat Engineer Instructors run our Demolitions Range in a far more professional NCO manner.

But I did enjoy it as entertainment.

i saw it about a year ago when it had its first screening (i work in film) & loved it then, i did wonder if anything would have been changed for its official release but the story seemed intact. if i could use one word to describe it, it would be "intense". the acting is top-notch & when the action does happen it puts you right in the middle of the situation. i was getting tired of the same old war movies which depened on telling the story through an ordinary soldier or squads eyes, i'd known nothing about bomb disposal in the military & hurt locker really opened my eyes to the risks involved. i really can't say a bad word against it except i wish it had been released earlier like it was supposed to have been - watch it if you haven't yet = )

What class were you in at Indianhead? I was in the infamous 26.5 S '71. We got the blame for flooding the enlisted club at Indianhead the night we arrived. We were also the smallest class (6 men) ever to graduate.

What was that big wheeled thing at the start?

the robot?

Hi guys
Watched the hurt locker last night.
I'm sorry but I was really dissapointed with it.I found it very cliched.
As popcorn factor not bad.
Personally I preferred GENERATION KILL.

Chris

no need for sorry, Bro.
You didn't like it, that's cool.
I also like GK. I don't have HBO so I saw it by alternative methods

I didnt mind it from a non serving frame of mind when you are a serving member war movies sudenly become stupid as you become the ultimate critic as per your own experiance if they did it correct and accurate no one else would understand and they wouldnt make the big bucks as it would be slow and deliberate.
saying that I did like the ending when hes at the supermarket and is overwhelmed by the selection of cereal I know that feeling.

I'm sure that a service member seeing this movie would probably shake his/her head in disgust just from the inevitable inaccuracies that result from the Hollywoodization of any military story. I'm a lawyer by profession and I absoultely don't watch lawyer movies or lawyer television shows for that same reason.
That having been said, I thought it was spellbinding entertainment, right up there with Blackhawk Down and We Were Soldiers. The ending did ring true to me - how do you go back to picking out breakfast cereals at your local supermarket once you have experienced something like that?

Bob

The master EOD badge came with being Nuclear qualified as well as obtaining a certain rank. At least that's what I remember from 1971.

Being a Ranger wouldn't necessarily disqualify you from being EOD, although the two MOSs attracted different types of troops. The Rangers were jocks who were adrenaline junkies, the EOD techs tended to be Nerds who could tolerate exposure to adrenaline. The school tended to screen out the glory hounds in favor of people who would sit back and evaluate a suituation before they acted.

I'm not up on modern practices, but in my day EOD techs only served in their teams. You wouldn't have an active EOD tech assigned to a non-EOD unit. There were never enough of us to disperse. In fact our units tended to be understrength per to&e.

The '70's were a long time ago, but that is my recollection, It an indication of qualification, not experience with live ordnance or combat time.