7/10
I think I need to stop reading about movies. I've been consistently underwhelmed by almost all the movies in the Oscar race this year and THL wasn't an exception. It was a good movie, but I expected more. I only felt the much-lauded tension at a couple of points, and at others I felt virtually nothing at all. I also thought it was a bit cheap to (spoilers) introduce random/very minor characters (the specialist at the beginning, the cameo crew with the flat tire, the colonel, only to instantly kill them off as if the movie was too afraid to take out anyone who mattered to the plot - although with only 3 main characters, there probably wasn't much else they could do.
The movie was beautifully shot and directed though, and it was at least a very "real" look at what I imagine the life to be like.
This movie fascinated me. I come from an Army background 123movies online and was married to a Marine so I'm familiar with the adrenaline addiction that life in a war zone produces in some people. At home the main character is just one more bored, restless young man with few future prospects. As an Army bomb disposal expert in Iraq he can play cowboy every day, challenging the odds in deadly circumstances and riding the rush each time he walks away unharmed. High-ranking officers praise him publicly and other soldiers either fear him or are in awe of him. The greater the thrills, the greater the craving for them.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea whether the conditions in Iraq are portrayed accurately here, so if you're looking for documentary realism don't watch this movie. If you want a study of, as the quote in the opening says, "war as a drug," this zmovies is superb. Plus, Jeremy Renner nails the leading role cold.