The Hurt Locker - % % % %

Why am I not CRAZY over this film? It's wonderfully crafted. The action and scenario are interesting. The characters are well developed. But I think I don't feel moved by them. The acting is very good and they follow revealing lines and interrelations. I really really like it, but... I can't give it 5 percent signs. Too bad.

In the commentary, director Kathryn Bigelow talks about how she felt that the war was under-reported. I think she explains it in a new way. I have been looking to long form documentaries to tell me the stories I want to know or am curious to see. I want to understand more complex aspects than can be told through a 500 word article in a newspaper. I want to understand the war in broad strokes. The small portions that happen in a few hours or in a day are the stories of military movements and deaths. In "The Hurt Locker" we finally get to see the work-relationships and the missions and how the war is being waged. It's fascinating and a great credit to the screenwriter, Mark Boal, who spent time imbedded with a bomb disposal unit in Baghdad.

I'm super happy to see David Morse in a small part. He's always so great. His pudgy eyes belie the deepest sorrows of Saint Elsewhere.

I wonder if it's because I watched it at home. I bet if I had watched this on a big screen, I'd have been as terrified as during "Black Hawk Down", the scariest movie I've ever seen.