Thinking it's only right I should check what all the fuss is about, I caught The Hurt Locker on Box Office last night, in glorious HD...

I think I might need to watch this film again, I am not sure I saw the point of it, I get the feeling that the fuss is based more around the "of the times"-ness of it, and not much else. It is also filmed very artistically at points, and you think "woh, cool" quite a bit throughout at some of the shots created, so credit needs to be given there.

The film follows the development of three main characters, these are quite different personalities, and the film shows an insight to their different psyches, basically resulting in explaining that it takes a certain type of person to be in the army, didn't we know that already?

There have been countless films which show war as a shitty place, and a fair few that have told this story with excellent cinematography, isn't this the same old story with a different war?

The bomb diffusion scenes are mostly excellent, you really get the sense of tension, and you feel the fear and other emotions from all the main characters all the time. You also realise that should someone want, they could be killed all too easily, scary prospect, and really gives you the understanding as to why they are counting the days down on their rotation, well, some of them are. I think that these scenes are what a lot of the nominations are based on, and not the movie as a whole. It's not bad, it's good, but this is the Oscars, does good cut it? It shouldn't.

The rest of the film shows muddled interlinking stories mostly around the main character Will, these seem to lack focus, and not really deliver any conclusion, they feel like filler scenes. Jeremy Renner (Will), although good in this movie, and was stand out amongst the other cast, I just don't think that his Actor in a leading role nomination is justified... it wasn't that challenging of a role.

They did however manage to avoid what I call the "Old Glory affect"... which seems to be quite a feat!

Let me explain.

Quite often in American films will have a scene where they just proclaim their greatness... there could be a scene where everyone is getting shot up, and then the American comes cartwheeling through shooting through his legs and over his shoulder killing all the bad guys. Sometimes it's more subtle, sometimes... rarely... hmm, perhaps never.

The sniper scene comes close to this affect, but kinda gets away with it, although when shooting at the British, the enemy sniper seemed to be a crack shot, when shooting at the Americans, he seems to lose his knack, strange.

You have to watch it, something this big in the media press cannot be ignored on my say so, you have to get your own opinion on this one, but go into it with your eyes open. Maybe my vision has been affected by the high acclaim the film has already achieved, and I wanted to find it average... maybe I am the only one who watched this film with my eyes open?

The news, certainly in Britain tells the story of this film everyday, it's a hell hole out there, and these courageous men are true heroes, and deserve more than what they get. Most of them are working a thankless task, a task that all of their countrymen should be thankful and respectful for.