The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow is getting fantastic critical reviews, some even calling it the best movie of last year. It has no famous actors (except for a very brief apparition by Ralph Fiennes) which is not to say that the acting is not strong.

The theme is the war in Iraq and it is a very realistic portrayal of the interactions between three soldiers stationed there as part of an elite bomb squad unit. There is lots of tension when they are dismantling bombs, especially during the opening scene which I found to be the most engaging. The remaining time disappointed me and I have to say I was hoping for more from this film and found it tedious, slow and repetitive. I was dozing off and had a hard time getting involved and caring much about what was going to happen. The movie lacked plot and did not engage me sufficiently.

It was very well directed from a technical standpoint and was a unique film in this regard, filmed in documentary style. But it is definitely a slow moving, war film and I hate to stereotype but probably more of a guy's movie. In fact you do not see a woman for 2 hours. I would not recommend this to any of my female friends; men might appreciate it more. However, although Hurt Locker reminded Fabio of his time in the army, and he happens to be reading a book about the war in Iraq, he was also bored and said he much preferred Jarhead. . My rating: 3/10 Fabio: 6/10 http://www.paulinasmovies.blogspot.com/