With: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pierce, Ralph Fiennes
Plot: The film follows a month in the life of a US army bomb squad in Baghdad
---
Reviews of this misled me to think that it was so tense that you might very well shit yourself in the cinema as you watch. Really, it's not that bad at all, in terms of action and suspense the intensity will be familiar to those who have watched any war film of the last decade (Or even a series of 24). What's important is what it's characters are getting from these experiences, and the paranoid, adrenaline-driven mindset that they develop and find it difficult to disregard once home. This film doesn't talk through the issues of war, and the motives and politics of this particular war are entirely absent here, which really is a blessing, so the gradual psychological shaping of the characters can flourish (very subtly handled, no-one really changes, but through behaviour and an excellent evocation of life in a warzone, we understand that they have already changed). Even though it's purely a character arc, rather than a traditional plot, Bigelow never includes anything melodramatic (no big nervous breakdowns) or sentimental. As gripping as reviews said, but also much more studied than you'd expect.
75
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment