HBO's The Pacific

[Azure]

EOD personnel have said that The Hurt Locker is a very poor portrayal of what they do.

[worth]

Originally Posted by Table 5

How so? Haven't seen it myself, and am curious.

• Every time the EOD team leaves the compound it is with 1 humvee, 4 guys total driving through Baghdad all by themselves
• They clear and control entire intersections with 3 people
• They stand up on brick walls to get better views
• They clear an entire warehouse with 1 person so he can get to the roof for a better vantage point
• 3 team members clear a multi level building by themselves
• 3 team members split up down 3 alleys, 1 person per alley
• Contractor gets shot and killed in sniper position, EOD member takes up same sniper position to fire back
• The main character sneaks off the base by himself and gets back in later that night
• I won't mention how they actually diffuse bombs and all that stuff because I have no experience with that, but i'm guessing it's not very accurate based on the actions of the team in the rest of the film.
• Actually just thinking about it a bit, SSGT James basically endangers his whole team throughout the entire movie, making every bad decision he can. I suppose that's sort of the point of the film... "War is a drug" and he was looking for the rush, but there is no way that happens in a cohesive unit. Especially in a live war zone.

That's what comes to mind off the top of my head. I can see why a civilian with no prior military experience or knowledge would like this movie. It is tense and fun. If you don't know any better, it's probably a good movie, But for anyone who has served, or anyone who knows a little bit about military history and tactics, or knows a little bit about modern warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, this film will seem completely ridiculous. It's not a documentary, and I suppose you're supposed to disconnect yourself from reality, but I can't help but think while watching a movie like this that basically all of the things that happened in the movie would not have happened in real life. The only thing consistent with the actual war is that the film is based in Iraq.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Azure

EOD personnel have said that The Hurt Locker is a very poor portrayal of what they do.

Well they can get in line with EVERY OTHER PROFESSION EVER PORTRAYED IN MOVIES OR TV.

It's called dramatic effect and sometimes details have to be tweaked in order to give rise to the drama. As a lawyer I don't think there's ever been a movie or tv show that has accurately portrayed what I do, what anyone in my firm does or what anyone in the legal profession does.

[Komskies]

Enemy at the Gates. I like that movie.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by worth

• 3 team members clear a multi level building by themselves
• 3 team members split up down 3 alleys, 1 person per alley
• Contractor gets shot and killed in sniper position, EOD member takes up same sniper position to fire back

Those 3 were really apparent to me and I've never served.

Taking up the same sniper position and basically playing 'I hope I hit him before he hits me' is the stupidest tactic I've ever heard of.

A 3rd rate director should have been able to see the stupidity in that scene.

The split up is straight out of the Hollywood playbook on how to make a movie more interesting. Pretty stupid too. No way in hell a 3 man team goes off alone after someone let alone splitting up in an unknown neighborhood. They would almost certainly stay together, and almost certainly call for backup.

The whole movie reeked of the movie makers trying to portray the 'cowboy' in the military. The fact that they decided to do with by using the EOD is hilarious. You're just talking about one the most professional units in the military ESPECIALLY with discipline.

Laughable at best.

[Pastiche]

What the hell was EOD doing out in the middle of the desert by themselves with no escort and apparently no communication gear?

If you're pinned down by snipers in a building in a desert you don't get into a sniper battle one for one with them, you use your completely unmatched air superiority to blast that building and any occupants to a powder fine enough for Rahim Jaffer.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

What the hell was EOD doing out in the middle of the desert by themselves with no escort and apparently no communication gear?

If you're pinned down by snipers in a building in a desert you don't get into a sniper battle one for one with them, you use your completely unmatched air superiority to blast that building and any occupants to a powder fine enough for Rahim Jaffer.

Pretty much.

There were no apparent civilians involved and you never want to risk exposing yourself to sniper fire.

Call in air support, and if its not available you sit and wait for it.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Enemy at the Gates. I like that movie.

Ahh Vasiiy Zaitsev. He was certainly a great sniper, though that story is very hollywood. He was too. There was a sniper with as many or more kills named Anatoly Chekov who didn't garner the same attention as Zaitsev.

Vasily Grossman's book "A Writer at War" is fantastic and he describes meeting both Zaitsev and Chekov.

[Table 5]

Enemy at the Gates was great just for the fact it's central characters were Russian and German, and not an American like virtually every other war movie. It was a refreshing change of pace....as much as a war movie can be refreshing.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Enemy at the Gates. I like that movie.

The Stalingrad scene is one of my favourites of all time only beaten by the D-Day reenactment in SPR. That D Day scene is the only scene where I have sat forward in my theatre seat with my jaw on the floor. I thought it was insanely well done. BoB has a number of very good scenes too.

Passchendaele was a decent movie as long as you didn't go into it with expectations of non stop battle scenes. It is a character drama first. The battle scenes are very well done though and capture a lot of the hell that would have been that battle if not all of WWI.

Back on topic, HBO and movie channels are now active for the next few months. (Also of note Passchendaele was on one of the movie channels that comes with HBO.)

[Pastiche]

Check out the German movie Stalingrad for an amazing depiction of the battle of Stalingrad. (note a new Russian Stalingrad has just recently come out, don't confuse the two)

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Enemy at the Gates was great just for the fact it's central characters were Russian and German, and not an American like virtually every other war movie. It was a refreshing change of pace....as much as a war movie can be refreshing.

It's a good story, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the US other than equipment maybe.

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

The Stalingrad scene is one of my favourites of all time only beaten by the D-Day reenactment in SPR. That D Day scene is the only scene where I have sat forward in my theatre seat with my jaw on the floor. I thought it was insanely well done. BoB has a number of very good scenes too.

Passchendaele was a decent movie as long as you didn't go into it with expectations of non stop battle scenes. It is a character drama first. The battle scenes are very well done though and capture a lot of the hell that would have been that battle if not all of WWI.

Back on topic, HBO and movie channels are now active for the next few months. (Also of note Passchendaele was on one of the movie channels that comes with HBO.)

What do you mean Stalingrad scene? The entire movie is in Stalingrad.

Passchedaele wasn't very good, and I didn't think that it did a good job showing the hell of the first world war at all. The battle scene lasts maybe 20 minutes at most and it's pretty ridiculous. I'm dead serious that someone needs to make Three Day Road into a movie. Such an amazing story based on reality.

[CaptainCrunch]

I really enjoyed the Hurt Locker, but I've learned to seperate real life military training from the movies a long time ago. Things that drive me absolutely bonkers and I see it in every movie.

1) No intervals - The soldiers move in one big clump, half the time I'm mimicing throwing a hand grenade because I could get a medal of honour against these guys by killing enmass. Worst offenders - The hurt locker, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, StarShip Troopers.

2) No oversight, or the old "coverme argument" - They all ardently watch as their comrade goes clomping across a road or field or stream. They're just focused on the guy, there's no supporting arcs of fire, there's no flanking patrols, there's no supported platoons, its one guy running across the field. Worst offenders Full Metal Jacket.

3) People splitting off and going on their own - Drives me crazy, the guy just takes off into the jungle to run down a fleeing enemy while the rest of his platoon wait for him while worriedly smoking cigarettes. Really bad offender - Platoon

4) no fields of fire - Everyone stares straight ahead instead of setting up fields of fire.

5) Noise dicipline - Hey did you know that whispers are louder then talking quietly? Neither do they in the movies

6) Lack of shrapnel - When things explode they fire off whirling killing chunks of red hot metal. With the exception of a few movies they always show the brave hero standing there or walking towards his troops as explosive rounds go off 5 feet away from them, or a grenade explodes 10 feet away. If you toss a grenade in the middle of McMahon stadium the shrapnel will probably hit the players benches. It also pisses me off that they always show artillary hitting the ground. For the most part you used variable fused airbursts to kill infantry.

7) Cammo'd and hiding in the open - They always have them standing in the open yaking away then they're all shocked when buddy buys it and he was only 5 days from going home. I have to honestly say that I never once stood out in the open when I was in the military . . . tree's ditches and walls were my friend. Oh and commo doesn't make you invisible in downtown Baghdad.

8) Hyper accurate napalm strikes or bombing strikes. I mean these pilots must have all gone to red flag. Forrest Gump drove me crazy when he was missed by 6 inches by a napalm cannister.

9) The big one for me, the radio use - It always drives me nuts when some guys on the radio and he uses the word repeat - "Its say again" "Repeat" means send another arty or bomb strike at the same location as last time.

10) The hero charge - Discussed below, where they see an objective and they go bounding across the opening to take it. The radio is the most powerful weapon in your arsenal, and pilots and artymen just love to blow stuff up.

There are about a thousand more, but these ones drive me crazy on an epic scale.

Originally Posted by worth

• Every time the EOD team leaves the compound it is with 1 humvee, 4 guys total driving through Baghdad all by themselves
• They clear and control entire intersections with 3 people
• They stand up on brick walls to get better views
• They clear an entire warehouse with 1 person so he can get to the roof for a better vantage point
• 3 team members clear a multi level building by themselves
• 3 team members split up down 3 alleys, 1 person per alley
• Contractor gets shot and killed in sniper position, EOD member takes up same sniper position to fire back
• The main character sneaks off the base by himself and gets back in later that night
• I won't mention how they actually diffuse bombs and all that stuff because I have no experience with that, but i'm guessing it's not very accurate based on the actions of the team in the rest of the film.
• Actually just thinking about it a bit, SSGT James basically endangers his whole team throughout the entire movie, making every bad decision he can. I suppose that's sort of the point of the film... "War is a drug" and he was looking for the rush, but there is no way that happens in a cohesive unit. Especially in a live war zone.

That's what comes to mind off the top of my head. I can see why a civilian with no prior military experience or knowledge would like this movie. It is tense and fun. If you don't know any better, it's probably a good movie, But for anyone who has served, or anyone who knows a little bit about military history and tactics, or knows a little bit about modern warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, this film will seem completely ridiculous. It's not a documentary, and I suppose you're supposed to disconnect yourself from reality, but I can't help but think while watching a movie like this that basically all of the things that happened in the movie would not have happened in real life. The only thing consistent with the actual war is that the film is based in Iraq.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by kermitology

It's a good story, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the US other than equipment maybe.

As I said, that's one of the reasons I like it. Not the only one of course, it's very entertaining and Rachelrific.

[flip]

Originally Posted by Table 5

As I said, that's why I like it.

And the British are the heroes (the Russians) and an American is the bad guy (a nazi).

[Table 5]

Ha, well, that American Nazi is one of my favorite actors. My like of it has nothing to do with anti-Americanism, I just like the fact that Hollywood decided to take on story that acknowledged there were other players in WW2 apart from their own troops.

Btw, am I the only one who went off on a massive wikipedia tangent the last couple of days? Work production has plummeted simply because of this thread.

[flip]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Ha, well, that American Nazi is one of my favorite actors. My like of it has nothing to do with anti-Americanism, I just like the fact that Hollywood decided to take on story that acknowledged there were other players in WW2 apart from their own troops.

I wasn't trying to be anti american either. Just interesting that they picked an american for the nazi, since it was a completely Euro production.

I also really enjoy Ed Harris.

So actually, no, it isn't a hollywood movie. I believe it was (at the time anyway) the largest budget ever for a completely Euro production.

Hollywood would never make a movie where the Russians played by British actors are the good guys and an american plays the only Nazi bad guy in the movie.

[Table 5]

Huh, interesting. I guess since the production value was pretty sparkly, and the actors were all pretty well known, I assumed it was a Hollywood movie.

[Bertuzzied]

What do you guys think of the war scenes in Forest Gump?

[flip]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Huh, interesting. I guess since the production value was pretty sparkly, and the actors were all pretty well known, I assumed it was a Hollywood movie.

Don't quote me on that but I'm like 80% sure that it was a European production.