Easily the best movie made about the Iraq War, and one of the most memorable war movies I've seen in general. The director, Kathryn Bigelow, charges almost every scene with suspense and tension, producing action sequences more exhilarating and gripping than most high-budget blockbusters. Also, wtf with people complaining about the movie's real-life credibility? It's not like "Apocalypse Now" represented the Vietnam War as it was, it just tried to be a great movie, which it was and "The Hurt Locker" is the same.… Expand

Watch The Messenger instead, why the critics are rating this so highly is a mystery. It doesn't even compare to Apocalypse Now and Platoon. Heck it's just awful, watch Jarhead instead.

As a Soldier, I had high hopes for this film. I'd heard great things, and couldn't wait to check it out. I was utterly disappointed - I heard over and over again that this movie captured what it's "really like over there." All it proved is that no one in Hollywood has a clue. Still.

Bottom line on the hurt locker is that it s OK, but clearly did not deserve the Oscar In 5 or 10 years, nobody will be talking about the Hurt Locker. The story was not especially original. The cinematography will not be referenced in other movies, and the film won't be parodied by cartoon shows as cultural icon. It was totally forgettable. IMO inglorious bastards should have won.

The movie's quiet tension adds realism to the movie, making it one of the true modern war films. However, the film's noticeably lethargic pace will make you bored. In the end, "The Hurt Locker" is just a decent movie that presents real life situations in modern warfare; no more, no less.

I'm with RW on this one. I thought this was a dumb, empty movie and haven't found a single review that points out what I've missed other than it was some kind of adrenaline rush. "It was so real, man." What kind of ivory tower institution do you people come from? This movie is disrespectful to American soldiers and Iraqi civilians alike. It's just another lame Hollywood vision of reality that allows people to pat themselves on the back for saying absolutely nothing. I don't know. It's an empty movie with bad dialogue and ridiculous, two-dimensional characters.… Expand

I have completed 2 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the US ARMY. This was by far the worst movie I have ever seen. Nothing in this movie is the way things are done over there. Nobody drives around by themselves! Nobody leaves their FOB by themselves to "investigate" somebody. EOD does not even come out at night. They wait until the next day to use the robot to blow up the IED. They hardly ever, ever make "the walk" as the movie so ridiculously put it. Anyway, do not think this movie is the way it is. This movie is complete make believe!!!… Expand

Disjointed, unrealistic, slow, dull, and pathetic are all word that should be on the cover of this movie. It had the potential to be good if it had dived into story a bit more and chosen what it wanted to be about. Did it want to be about the relationship between the team or with the little kid? The difficulty of being in Iraq or the struggle of returning home? It touched all of those but left you wanting more. There was a lot of deep in thought staring when not easily clipping the wires of bombs. I could rant all day about how much I was disappointed but I'll just stop abruptly like the entire movie.… Expand

An awful movie ! how this is up for 9 oscars ill never know, poor storyline, many errors in the film, such as a guy being able to pick up a barrett 50cal and with less than 5 shot be totally comfortable with a weapon like that!! utter rubbish even fully trained snipers very rarely get there hands on a Barrett and to be able to pick off a moving target with a headshot at what looked to be upwards of 800m is near on impossible for the world best let alone a bomb disposal guy who had just picked it up with no idea how the weapon is zeroed in !!!!! utter rubbish!!!! best War film in Years ??? give me a break!!!… Expand

One of the most outstanding war movies this century. I am a surprised a woman could even direct something as good as this one. Some people should really think about it, because it is kind of true. I am sure some people jsut hate it just because it beat Avatar in the oscars

this movie is a disgrace to the armed forces and has debased the Academy Awards by winning the Oscar for best movie. If you like cowboy movies, you'll recognise the characters but feel let down by pretty much everything else.

An only-American movie!!!! No one else in the world can understand that patriotic feeling, without it the movie is complete poor.

A great film but you have to be in the right mood to watch it. Not worth an Oscar by any stretch. However there should be more film like this...ones where you need at least half a functioning brain to enjoy.

Anybody who has been over to Iraq will laugh at this movie. It's a joke. It's almost as if the creators of this movie didn't get any professional military input at all. Whats frustrating for me, as well as everybody else who has been there and done that, is that they sold this movie and advertised it as the "real deal" and how this is a good example of "what things are really like over there". There are so many innaccuracies in this movie, some downright lies, that it was hard for me to watch and take it seriously. From that viewpoint, this was absolutely the worst movie of the year. It could have been a decent movie had they not made it out to be this realistic war drama about life in Iraq.… Expand

I am so glad some of our men and women in the armed forces are speaking up about the inaccuracies in this film. I didn't like this film for other reasons, but know that I have read their comments here, I am angry, appalled and embarrassed. Bigelow didn't claim this film is realistic, but she sure seemed to try to pass it off as such, and the critics and others ate it right up. I truely am embarrassed that this film is getting the "special treatment" from critics that should know better. Sad.… Expand

This movie was average at best. To compare this with Platoon is a complete joke. I only gave it a 5 because of the last 15 min, best part of the movie. You dont even need to be in the military to see what crap most of this movie was, the sniper scene was hysterical, what were they doing out there to begin with? Why did they need to stay out in the sun all day? How long does it take to determine there is no more threat? All day I guess..LOL And the best, how is that guy so accurate with that sniper rifle..What BS..still laughing..hahaha.… Expand

I really don't understand why so many reviwers give more than 2 points to a movie that is downright boring. After 45min every viewer should ask himself weather something will happen or he can just switch off. the whole movie is nothing more than a documentary and not a motion picture worth mentioning it...

Very bad movie in deed... Un Accurate, bad plot, had a couple of great moments, but a suspense war TV movie all the way.

This piece of crap won Academy Awards? What a sad state of affairs the film industry is in.

Seldom are war films and war politics able to be separated, but this is ridiculous. It's one thing to open up a dialogue about the rightness and wrongness of political and military decisions -- the great ones do that. It's a completely different thing, however, to put such a shiny gloss on it. This movie is to war movies what "Crash" was to race movies: a film that functions more as an idea than a story. It certainly wasn't boring; but then, neither was "Crash." However, I like films that probe a little deeper. If you want to see something that will make you question your beliefs on war (whichever side you fall into), check out "The Thin Red Line" or "Battlestar Galactica" and ditch this schlocky nonsense.… Expand

I'm not sure which movie the critics saw, but Hurt Locker is unskilled at just about every level.

I am a Marine combat veteran and I rate this movie as the most realistic war movie I've ever seen. It really captures the intensity and the individuality of combat and the changes it causes in all of its participants. Movies like Full Metal Jacket and Apoclypse Now and even Saving Private Ryan are cartoons - Hollywood director's fantasies of what war and conflict are. Most war movies are laden false events and dramatic devices and political "messages" but Hurt Locker embraces the realities of war and the people in them. This is a movie I'll keep for my children and grandchildren to show when they ask me what war was like.… Expand

What a BORE of a movie! Badly directed as well. AVOID

I realize I'm way in the minority on not liking this movie. Like Jarhead, this is another movie that portrays most in the military as pychos or malcontents. Is it too hard to have a more balanced view? Yes, there are some of these types in the military, but the majority are great Americans. On a side note, anyone in the military will just shake their heads at quite a few implausible situations.… Expand

A very, very good " Iraq war" movie. I liked it, but still the critics are pissing themselves too much it seems. The ratings for this movie are so great everywhere that my expectations were too high. I liked the fact that this film did not tried to get into politics also.

This is a very average movie - I don't understand all the hype. The story is cliched and simplistic, the acting is adequate. The actions of the protagonist are barely believable. Visually, very pretty, but really, nothing we haven't seen before. Can anyone honestly say they would look forward to watching it a second time?

This movie was good for the first 20 minutes of the movie suspenseful then the rest had me rumbling my lis and slouching in my chair don't see it

Hello, I pirated this movie, and I didn't like it very much. From all of the hype, I was expecting a lot more. The rise to the climax felt loosely strung together, and there was hardly any character development at all. If you've seen the trailers, you've seen the best parts already. It also came to my attention that the director indirectly called me an idiot and wished for innocent people's children and spouses to be locked up in jail. I can't support someone with such a sick sense of morality.… Collapse