The Hurt Locker

Well, this was a movie I had been wanting to see for some time now, and I was lucky enough to receive it as a birthday present. I had been looking for it ever since it came out on DVD, and couldn't find it anywhere, so I was pretty pumped when I opened the wrapping paper and saw what it was. My wife and I decided to watch the movie that night, and here is my synopsis.
The movie immediately begins with a small Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad, checking out a large Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on a mule cart on some city street in Iraq. It's a stressful situation, as the EOD squad attempts to disarm the IED, and a subsequent explosion kills off the only actor I recognized and assumed was going to be a main character. A little bit of a surprise there. The soldier killed off is replaced by Jeremy Renner's character, Sgt. James. We learned very quickly that Sgt. James is slightly eccentric, and extremely unorthodox, much to the chagrin of his two squadmates. The next hour and a half go by showing the EOD squad encountering different forms of IED's and trying to disarm them. It was all very interesting.
However, I did have a few issues with the movie. I have read many, many books about military special forces (of which EOD is considered), and I coincidentally watched a documentary about EOD the day prior to watching this movie, and I noticed several things that bothered me. EOD squads are made up of 5-6 members, and not 3. If it takes, 1-2 men to disarm an IED, it will take several more to set up a small perimeter around the other 2. In this movie, 2 men set up a perimeter, while one man disarmed the IED. Two men cannot effectively set up a safe perimeter. And who did these men report to? We never saw a commanding officer, or a platoon sargeant, or any other form of the chain of command.
I also noticed that when the squad returned to base, the two lower ranking guys appeared to share quite a large, pristine barracks room. Just the two of them. And Sgt. James had an identical room all to himself. Now I have to admit, I have not been to Iraq, and I cannot not honestly say that I know what kind of living conditions our troops are residing in over there. But from documentaries that I have seen, and from my own experience in the military, I do know for a fact, that the military, no matter what branch, does NOT waste space by giving 1-2 guys a large space like that. And, officers get the nice stuff, while the enlisted guys get whatever is left over.
The only other thing that really bothered me, was while Sgt. James' team was patrolling one day, they came across some private contractors. I thought they were actually British SAS (Secret Air Service), which is Britain's version of Navy SEALs. In other words, they are complete badasses. However, I found out while reading the credits, that this British team was actually made up of contractors. Anyway, the EOD squad and the contractors come under sniper fire, killing off three of the contractors. The contractors immediately begin to panic, and freak out, acting like dumbasses. The EOD guys remained extremely calm, and took the contractors' 50cal. sniper rifle and proceeded to take out the Iraqi sniper. It bothered me that the contractors, who realistically would have been former special forces and should have remained calm under pressure, completely freaked out when some of their guys got shot. And how the EOD guys just picked up the 50cal., and calmly returned fire, killing the sniper. Did they have any sniper training? I don't know. Not that I know of.
Also, the Iraqi sniper could be seen from his point of view, pointing an AK-47 without a scope, at the EOD guys from several hundred yards away, and firing accurately. The EOD guys, picked up the 50cal. and took 3-4 shots to even hone in on the sniper. Even the contractors, who should have been trained to use that rifle, took a few potshots before getting shot in the throat, while lying on their stomach, behind the rifle. That Iraqi sniper must have been quite the deadeye.
Other than that, I really enjoyed the movie. I love military movies, and I was not altogether disappointed, except for the issues I previously mentioned. Overall, I would give this move a solid "B."